


the boy who loved

by sharetheskamlove



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: And Marti can´t stand it, Bookstagram Au, Don´t ask me why and how I got this idea haha, It´s basically fluff, M/M, Nico is a Harry Potter nerd, Social Media AU, but both do love books and reading
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-02-27 07:26:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 37,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18734380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharetheskamlove/pseuds/sharetheskamlove
Summary: martislibrary: Anyway, back to our, let´s call it discussion: Reading your messages, the protective Harry Potter fanboy sprang out, didn´t he?nicoissurroundedbymuggles: Hell yeah?! For sure! As if I could just let somebody get away with talking bad about these books, the story and characters? No way!martislibrary: Well then, I´ll stick with my opinion that I don´t get the hype. If you can´t live with it: Ciao.martislibrary: *Martino Rametta has left the chat*-----Martino has never thought that posting a review of a book on his Bookstagram account would get him into such a discussion. A discussion with a cute, curly haired boy with beautiful eyes named Niccolò.In conclusion, it turned out as pretty nice... didn´t it?





	1. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again :D  
> Don´t ask me why I started writing this fic and how I got the idea. To be honest, I actually don´t know it, haha. Maybe because I´m on Bookstagram myself, who know. But I still hope you enjoy reading it - have fun :)

**\- Gryffindor vs. ~~Ravenclaw~~  Slytherin -**

“In conclusion, as y´all may have already guessed, I really don´t get the enormous hype around the book. And I don´t think that I´m going to continue reading the series, even though I normally don´t do that. So from me sadly only 1/5 stars. P. S.: Quidditch? Really?! It´s the most stupid sport I´ve read about. Ever.” 

Finished. That´s it. He read through his review again before he uploaded it on his account. Martino was kind of tired after it. Writing reviews on books he read, especially negative ones, always made him feeling kind of exhausted afterwards. So it isn´t any different now. But he still loves it. He loves reading books, escaping into all these different worlds, forgetting reality for a bit, getting to know new characters. And for sure talking about it on his Bookstagram account. Martino is active there since almost three years now, it all started with a boring afternoon, the book next to him on his bedside table, his phone camera and shitty lightning. His first picture resulted, he created his Bookstagram account and well, three years have passed and he´s still there. martislibrary. His account. And even though he got teased for it at first, by his friends, his father, people at school, he loved it.  

He looked back at his phone, checking notifications.  

**_booksarelife_ ** **_,_ ** **_starfallingpages_ ** _and_ **_79 others_ ** _liked your post_  

**_enter_bookwonderland_ ** _left a comment_ _: Nice post!_  

**_Bookvandeley_ ** _left a comment: Great review!! Still not sure if I should start the series or_ _not.._  

**_nicoissurroundedbymuggles_ ** _started to follow_ _you_  

**_nicoissurroundedbymuggles_ ** _left a comment_ _:_ _YOU FOR REAL?!_  

Martino frowned slightly. Huh? Who was that? His curiosity won as he clicked on the profile name. 

_Nico; 19; Ravenclaw_  

Well, so he´s a Harry Potter fan, that´s the explanation for the comment under his review. Marti scrolled through his profile looking at his pictures. A few from his bookshelf (Wow!), from single books (Harry Potter! So much Harry Potter!) and a few of himself featuring books. Martino was currently looking at a pic of said Nico who was balancing a few books on his head while he was grinning at the camera. He was cute, Marti thought to himself. Really cute. 

Yes, Martino liked boys. It´s nothing new for him, he kind of knows it for a very long time now, since he´s younger. He could never get what his friends found that attractive about girls. Yes, he knew that they were good looking: Objective. But they did nothing to him. To his heart. Whereas he felt all those things his friends were talking about whilst looking at girls when he looked at boys. It´s not that he has ever felt anything big, anything real for anyone before. Just stupid crushes on random, well, not so random once, guys.  

And still, now he´s sitting on his bed, looking at the pictures of this boy and can´t stop thinking about how cute he is. How good he looks. His dark curly hair, his eyes, the lips, how good it must feel to... 

His thoughts get interrupted by an incoming message on Instagram direct. 

Fuck. 

It´s from Nico, the boy who´s pictures he´d looked at for the last minutes. It´s not that it hadn´t ever happened to him that he developed a random crush on some guys he doesn´t know, only seeing them once in his life. Some guys at the supermarket, at the gelateria, on the bus. But it had never happened that one of them actually contacted him. Recognised him. The way he did with them. Marti sighted, closed his eyes for a second and opened the message. 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Hello you. Martino. It´s Martino, isn´t it? At least that´s in your bio. Well, as you´ve probably already read in my comment, I can´t leave your review without giving my opinion to it. Because... REALLY?!!? 1 out of 5 stars? IT`S HARRY POTTER; IT`S A MASTERPIECE!!!!! Which evil person must someone be to dislike this book, pardon, this masterpiece so much? The only possible way is that you´re Voldemo... The one who must not be named himself. Even though I really hope it isn´t like that. I couldn´t cope if this nice, book-loving boy would be the worst evil character that ever existed. So, Martino, I do really hope you have valid reasons to explain this and that one of these isn´t that you´re the one... you know whom I mean.  

_This nice, book-loving boy._ Martino knew that he shouldn´t be interpreting too much into it. He´s just friendly. And he didn´t know him before so... 

**martislibrary** **:** Well hello... Nico. I´m sorry to disappoint you but not everyone has the same opinion and well, I can´t get the hype about the book at all. Have a nice evening. 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Have a nice evening?! We´re not finished here!! 

**martislibrary** **:** Huh? 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** “Huh?” Stop it. I know, everyone has his own opinion and everything, but I have to add something: HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO NOT LIKE HARRY POTTER?!?! 

**martislibrary** **:** own opinion! There we go 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Yeah okay, but we´re TALKING ABOUT HARRY POTTER 

**martislibrary** **:** And? 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** And?! And?! Harry Potter is iconic, Harry Potter is FANTASTIC. You simply can´t think that you´ll get away with writing a negative review, Martino! 

**martislibrary** **:** Marti 

**martislibrary** **:**  Kind of only my grandma calls me Martino these days. And I honestly don´t want to think about her now.  

His grandma. It´s not that he doesn´t like her. She´s quite a nice woman. But she´s old. And she believes in God. And her faith is really strong and important to her. Not the best combination. Especially if you don´t want to hear her talking about all these sinners out there. People who don´t go to church every Sunday. People who have sex before they´re married. People who love someone who has the same gender as them. He tries. He tries really hard to not have her comments influence him but sometimes it´s not that easy. Sometimes he even thinks that she might be the reason why he never told anyone about the way he feels. His feelings. It´s not that he tries to supress his feelings. Not anymore. He doesn´t like girls. Not in the romantical kind of way. He likes boys. He likes their broad shoulders. The way their muscles move. The way their bodies are formed. Not that he has ever had someone. A boyfriend. Yes, he has had crushes on boys before. Silly crushes he knows that they are useless. The good-looking guy at the supermarket. The cute barista at the coffee shop. Gio. Gio, his best friend. But they´ve all went by. He always knew that they were hopeless. So yes, he never had someone who really liked him back. Loved him back. And to be honest, this might be the real reason why he has never told anyone about the way he feels, why he keeps this one thing about himself to himself. Because there has never been anyone, a boy, who made him feel the need to shout it out into the world. 

His thoughts got distracted by an incoming message from  **nicoissurroundedbymuggles**. Niccolò. Martino quickly tries to gather himself and his thoughts again, tries to push the ones about his feelings aside again and tries to think about what he wanted to write before he drifted away.  

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  What´s it with you and your grandma? Don´t you like her? Is she an evil woman? Did she treat you bad when you were a child like the Dursleys did it with Harry? 

**martislibrary** **:** Why am I even wondering that you put a Harry Potter reference nearly into any of your messages?  

**martislibrary** **:**  But no, it´s not like that, it´s nothing important 

**martislibrary** **:**  Anyway, back to our, let´s call it discussion: Reading your messages, the protective Harry Potter fanboy sprang out, didn´t he? 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Hell yeah?! For sure! As if I could just let somebody get away with talking bad about these books, these story and characters? No way!  

**martislibrary** **:** Well then, I´ll stick with my opinion that I don´t get the hype. If you can´t live with it: Ciao. 

**martislibrary** **:** *Martino Rametta has left the chat* 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Martino Rametta? Nice name, Marti. 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  And I think that´s not how insta direct message works 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Fares, by the way 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Niccolò Fares  

Suddenly his door opened and his mother lurked into his room. “Marti? Do you need something? I´d be going to bed.,” she said while she entered his room and sat down beside her son on the bed. Martino took a look at the time on his phone. Nearly half past 10. Where has the time gone? “No, everything is fine.,” he answered and smiled her. “You´re doing fine?” “Yeah, everything okay. I´m just tired, work was exhausting.” “Well then, good night, Mamma.,” Martino said as she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Good night, Marti.,” she said before she left his room. It wasn´t always this easy. Their relationship. They´ve had their ups and downs. Martino wasn´t always able to understand why she sometimes felt like she does, to accept her illness. But they´ve come to terms with each other and are a livewire in each other's lifes. One of the most important persons.  

Martino smiled to himself and turned back to his phone to type his next reply to Nico. 

**martislibrary** **:** Fares? Really? That´s kind of a weird name 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** So, you´re mobbing me? My last name actually? That´s not nice, Marti. And I thought you were different. 

**martislibrary** **:**  You thought I was different? 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Yeah, a true Gryffindor. Loyal. With a big heart. Friendly. Nice. Not some bad guy, a snake, who makes fun of a friend because of his las name 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  And by snake, I mean Slytherin, you should know that by now 

**martislibrary** **:** Okay stop. First of all, we´re friends by now? 

**martislibrary** **:** And secondly, why am I even wondering that you sort your friends into Hogwarts Houses? 

**martislibrary** **:** Well and if you wanna do so: Youu´re wrong. I´m Slytherin. I´m badass 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Of course, you´re my friend by now! Haven´t you felt the instant connection between us? 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  And a second of course, sorting friends into Hogwarts houses is a standard 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  And sorry to disappoint you but you could never be a Slytherin, you´re too nice and friendly for it. I´ll forgive you your faux pas with my name, let´s not think about it 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Marti the Gryffindor 

**martislibrary** **:**  Oh come on, stop it 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Nope I won´t 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Not till you accept that you´re a Gryffindor 

**martislibrary** **:** Never 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Well then you need to do the Pottermore test for you to be sure and accept that you´re not in Slytherin 

**martislibrary** **:** Pottermore what? 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** YOU`VE NEVER HEARD OF POTTERMORE?! 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Okay that´s it 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** bye 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  It was nice being your friend for about an hour, I really liked it 

**martislibrary** **:** sorry Mr. Harry Potter extremist for not fulfilling your desires 

Right after he´s sent the message, he regretted it. “Fulfilling your desires”? Honestly, Marti? You fucked up. Before he was able to curse himself more, he heard the sound of his phone that signalled another incoming message 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  you sure? 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  But well then, Marti, I´m going to bed, it was nice talking to you 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  I´ll hear from you 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  And no, I won´t stop bothering you till you´re a Gryfffindor 

**martislibrary** **:**  Oh vaffanculo 

**nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  😉 

After this message the green dot next to Nico´s Bookstagram name disappeared. He went offline. Marti let himself sink into his bed, pressed his phone to his chest and sighted. He was not sure what to say right now. The only thing he knew for sure is that this was weird. The whole conversation. But the good kind of weird.  

Niccolò. He spoke the name out loud one. Twice. Three times. Hearing the sound of it. He probably shouldn´t say that he likes him. He doesn´t really know him, talked to him once and not even in person. And possibly never will as that´s one of the “bad sides” of Bookstagram and social media in general: Getting to know people you like so much but sadly kind of live at the other end of the globe. But still, he has to smile as he thought about Nico and the conversation they held. He took another moment to scroll through Nico´s account and his smile became even wider as he saw pictures of him. Marti, sighted and scrolled back to the top of the page. And he pressed the blue follow-button. 

**_martislibrary_ ** _started following_ **_nicoissurroundedbymuggles_ ** ****  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope that you liked the first part of the story. Let´s see how this goes on, haha. Cross your fingers for me :D I´d love to hhear what you think about it in the comments <3
> 
> You can also talk to me on tumblr: sharetheskamlove


	2. The Forbidden Topic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly? How drunk or high must a person be to come up with a talking hat?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter, here we go, wuhu :D  
> Have fun reading! <3

** -The  ** ** Forbidden ** **** ~~** Forest ** ~~ **  Topic - **

“Martino! You with us?”, the teacher made Martino jump out of his thoughts as he called him out. 

“I... yeah, I´m here” 

“Well then?” 

“Then what?” 

“I´d like to hear the answer to my question, Martino”

Fuck. Yes. He didn´t pay attention and he ha d  no clue what was going on right now. His thoughts had drifted away again. To a certain boy. A certain boy with black hair and beautiful eyes... 

“I´m sorry, I-” 

“You didn´t pay attention, I know, Martino. Please, focus! Back to our interpretation of Ovid´s text,” the teacher said while he turned back to the blackboard to write down notes. Marti heard giggles from behind his back and as he turned around, he saw  Gio  and Elia making funny faces and laughing at his faux pas. These fuckers!

The moment the bell signalled the end of the school day Marti left the school as if his life depended on it. Today was one of these days his six hours of school felt like twenty. One of those days he wasn´t able to concentrate on the things he should. One of those days his thoughts drifted away every few minutes. One of those days he can´t wait to go home and lie down in his bed again. Post something on his  Bookstagram . Read a book.

But before he could do that, he was meeting up with his friends in front of the school. 

“Hey Marti,”  Gio  greeted him as they fist bumped. He repeated it with Elia and Luca and after it they fell back into the conversation they had before Marti had arrived. 

“It was literally the best, especially as Il  Peccio  started to dance, well “dance”, you know,  Marti?, ” Elia asked him and grinned. “Oh no wait, you would have known if you would have been there.,” he continued and his gaze roamed over to Marti. 

“Hey! I already told you that I stayed at home with my mom. And I promise, next time I´ll be there,” Marti said, his remorse hit in. 

“You better be! You really missed  something!, ”  Gio  said, patting his best friend´s shoulder. 

“What?  Peccio  dancing? Believe me, I´ve already seen that and honestly, it´s nothing I´d like to repeat,” Marti answered, grinning. 

“Better, Marti! Better! Just one word:  Girls!, ” Luca butted in. 

Girls. The one, constantly recurring topic. The one topic Martino is sick of. The one topic he really doesn´t want to talk about: Girls this, girls that. This. This was one of the reasons which would bring him to tell his friends about his feelings, his love life. Which nearly brought him to do so  a few times already . Tell them that he likes boys. To not have to endure these talks, this topic anymore. Well, at least to not have to pretend anymore. To pretend that he feels like them, that he feels the same about girls as they do. But to do so, one thing is missing. This one person, this one boy who´s worth it to tell his secret. To accept the possible outcomes of his coming out. That his friends would not think the same of him anymore as they do now. Or even worse, that they would stop being friends with him because he´s gay. No more hugs and late-night talks with his best friend  Gio . No more teasing Elia or getting teased by him. No more listening to Luca´s stories about  his  failed attempts at flirting. No, he would not want to risk this. Never. His friends were too important to him. 

His angsty spinning thoughts got distracted by  Gio  waving his hand in front of Marti´s eyes. It happened again, his mind and thoughts completely drifting away. 

“Martino! You with  us?, ” he tried to imitate their teacher from before, a big grin on his face. As he looked at Elia and Luca, he saw that they were mirroring  Gio´s  expression. Assholes. 

“Oh fuck  off ! , ” Marti said, trying to push his best friend away, but Giovanni was faster, already stepping out of his personal space. 

“But well, are you coming with us, Marti?,” he asked and looked at Marti, expecting. 

“Where?” 

“At my place, getting pizza before and playing a few rounds of FIFA. I´m ready to kick your boring ass, Marti!” 

“Oh, you sure about that? If I'm right I was the one who won all of our previous matches. So dream  on!, ” Marti said cocky, now being the one who had a grin on his face. 

“Let´s see, Marti, let´s see!” 

“But another time. I really need to go home and catch up on some school work, I´m so far behind” 

“Boring, Marti,  boooring ,” he heard Elia say as he was already ready to get going, Luca next to him. 

“See you tomorrow, guys,” Marti said as they started to head to the bus stop. Before Giovanni was leaving, he turned back to Martino, giving him a fond smile. 

“Everything okay with you? How´s your mom  doing?, ” he asked Marti, a hand on his shoulder. A gesture, a touch that would have made Marti´s heart beat faster a few years ago. But it´s over now. 

“Yeah, everything good. With me and with her, both of us. I´m just really tired as... I stayed up a little too late yesterday and I really need to do some things for school,” Marti answered. 

“Okay, that´s fine. I´ll see you tomorrow then”. After a short hug  Gio  disappeared and went after Elia and  Luchino . As he was out of his sight, Marti turned around in the other direction and headed home too. Finally. 

As soon as he closed the apartment door behind him and put his keys away, his mother was already appearing, giving him a hug and a kiss to the cheek. 

“How was school,  sweetheart?, ” she asked him as she stepped back, heading back to the living room, Marti behind her. 

“Nice. ..  I mean, okay. A bit boring, but well, I guess it was okay,” Martino answered. 

“Well then. By the way, I´m going to watch a movie, maybe make some popcorn. Do you  wanna  join  me?, ” she asked her son, waiting for his answer. 

“I´d love to, mom, but I´m actually really behind with some of my schoolwork and need to catch up as soon as possible. I´m sorry, but I would love to do this any other day again,” he said, a guilty look approaching on his face. 

“Don´t worry,  Marti!, ” his mother smiled at him and he couldn't help but mirroring her expression. 

“I love you, mom,” he said as he went over to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. 

“I love you too, Marti,” she answered, the smile never leaving her face. And with that Marti left for his room, sitting down at his desk. School work. What a  _ wonderful  _ thing to do on a Monday afternoon. 

Well, being productive looked different. He  _ really  _ wanted to do something, catch up with his school work. But he couldn´t help. And  so  it happened that Martino was sitting on his bed after already 15 minutes again. His phone inn his hands., ready to post a new picture on his  Bookstagram  account. He was scrolling through his gallery, searching for a pic he hasn´t posted yet. After a few minutes he found one, a picture of “It” by Stephen King, a book he read back in summer. And he loved it! Well, let´s just leave the fact aside that he finished it in the middle of the night and literally had a nightmare as he went to sleep. But still, he really enjoyed the story. He added a caption under his post, including his opinion on the post and a bit of more or less unnecessary chatter.  He hit the post-button and after a while, the first notifications started to appear. Many likes, a few comments complimenting his picture, a few comments sharing their own opinion on the book, a few people trying to promote their own account or business. He loved it, the communication with his followers. One of the best parts about the whole  Bookstagram  thing! But especially one comment caught his attention.

** nicoissurroundedbymuggles ** ** :  ** and again: YOU FOR REAL?! YOU LIKED THIS CRAP BUT CAN`T STAND HARRY POTTER?? WHAT`S WRONG WITH YOU?!

** martislibrary ** ** :  ** _ @ nicoissurroundedbymuggles _  and again: if you can´t live with my opinion... *Marti has left the chat*

** nicoissurroundedbymuggles ** ** : ** _ @ martislibrary _  Still not sure if this is how Instagram works, Marti  😛

A grin immediately appeared on Marti´s face. Wide. Bright. Radiating happiness. And suddenly he felt the urge to reread these messages. The messages between him and Nico. Well, no sooner said than done. He opened his and Nico´s chat, scrolled to the very top and started reading. Going through all the emotions he had whilst writing and reading these messages yesterday night again. Especially one caught his attention

_ “ _ **_ nicoissurroundedbymuggles _ ** **_ : _ ** __ _ Well then you need to do the  _ _ Pottermore _ _  test for you to be sure and accept that you´re not in Slytherin” _

Pottermore . It´s not that he was actually interested in anything Harry Potter related. But his curiosity won. His curiosity to know what Nico was talking about. He took his laptop from his desk, placed it on his lap and opened his browser, typing “ Pottermore ” into Google.  The first result already was said website. As he opened it, dozens of different articles and photos immediately caught his eyes. “The top five most fashionable teachers of Hogwarts”, “Take a new look at Hagrid´s Magical Creature´s Motorbike Adventure ride”, “The definitive Rubeus Hagrid quiz”, and so on and on. Nothing special, nothing that would impress Marti. It seemed like the perfect website for Harry Potter fans and stans. Like Nico. But then one button caught his attention: “Sorting”. Clicking on it, the next page showed the line “Discover your Hogwarts House”. This must be what Nico was talking about. Martino actually didn´t know what got into him but suddenly he saw himself creating an account on this website and starting this quiz. Answering questions. And honestly? How are questions like “Moon or Stars” or “Left or Right” supposed to tell anything about the house you're in. And again, he was wondering why he bothered to think about such topics. Anything related to Harry Potter. A book he didn´t like at all. Well, a text conversation with a cute boy exactly about this topic later and he sat in front of  Pottermore . Marti shook his head, immediately trying to get his thoughts about this “cute boy” out of his head. And he continued answering the following questions of the quiz. The Sorting Hat quiz. Honestly? How drunk or high must a person be to come up with a talking hat?!

A few minutes later, he leaned back as he finished the quiz, waiting for his result. And then the page showed him his apparent Hogwarts house. 

_ “Congratulations on being sorted into... _

_...Slytherin.” _

   
Ha!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well then, it´s Marti the Slytherin I guess, haha. The Sorting Hat has spoken. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and I´d love gto hear what you think in the comments <3
> 
> Talk to me on tumblr: sharetheskamlove


	3. The Sorting Hat´s Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> martislibrary: I KNEW IT 
> 
> martislibrary: HA! 
> 
> A triumphant grin settled on his face as he looked at the screen, waiting for Nico´s answer. And gladly it didn´t took Nico long. After a few seconds already “writing...” appeared at Nico´s side of their chat, announcing that he was typing an answer.

**-The Sorting Hat´s** ~~**New Song**~~ **Decision-**  

 **m** **artislibrary** **:**  I KNEW IT 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** HA! 

A triumphant grin settled on his face as he looked at the screen, waiting for Nico´s answer. And gladly it didn´t took Nico long. After a few seconds already “writing...” appeared at Nico´s side of their chat, announcing that he was typing an answer. 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Marti! My favorite, Gryffindor boy, how are you? 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  and WHAT DID YOU KNOW?? 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:**  I told you I´m badass!! 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** and fuck off and forget about your “Gryffindor boy” 

Marti couldn´t help and blushed a little at the “my favorite”. Not that he would ever admit it. It´s nothing special or serious. He quickly gathered his thoughts again and he came back to the original aim of his messages. The grin came back to his face and he took a photo of the result of his Pottermore test. Not that he would care about the whole thing. About his Hogwarts house. Hary Potter in general. But proving something to Nico. Well, that´s another story. 

He uploaded the photo into their chat and sent it to Nico. 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** HA 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:**  I TOLD YOU 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Marti Marit Marti 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  You actually did the sorting test, huh? 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** I DiD 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** I told you I´m badass, I´m a fucking Slytherin, Nico. HA! 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Look at you and what a way you´ve come! So are we a proud HP fan and Slytherin now? Are you planning on buying your house edition of one of the books soon? 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  And well, the Sorting Hat could still be wrong or you´ve answered some of the questions incorrect 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** so now it´s my fault huh? Just get over it, Nico, this weird talking hat said what it said 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  WEIRD TALKING HAT?! Don´t you dare to talk like that about anything harry Potter related. Thin ice, Marti, very thin ice! 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  but still 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  you seem pretty invested in this whole thing huh? 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  if I didn´t know better I´d say you´re actually a Harry Potter fan, Marti. But I do know better. 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Don´t I? Or did I miss something? Maybe you´ve got some common sense over night? After talking to me? Honestly, not liking Harry Potter is IMPOSSIBLE 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** oh fuck off, Nico! 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** It´s possible. I don´t like it. I´m here. I´m an actual human. Claim disproved.  

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** Well, maybe I need to check if you´re actually a proper human being. 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:**  good luck, this could be difficult. 

He couldn´t help it. He really couldn´t. Even if he didn´t want to. Even if he doesn´t know what got into him. But still, now he sat there on his bed, thinking about Nico touching him for a very (very of course!) short moment. Pinching him. Being close to him. Not seperated by a screen.  

“Ouch!,” Marti cried out as he actually pinched himself. This needed to stop. He doesn´t know Nico. Not really. For about a day only. This must not develop into one of his stupid, hopeless crushes. Not Nico. They´re friends. Well, Internet friends at most.  

He sighted briefly before he turned back to the screen of his phone. 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** To come back to your point: no, I´m not actually invested in this whole thing. And I´m NO Harry Potter fan. Never. I just wanted to prove you a point and the weird hat spoke and he said Slytherin, so I was right Nico 

 **n** **icoissurrroundedbymuggles** **:**  STOP TALKING LIKE THAT ABOUT THE SORTING HAT MARTI I`M WARNING YOU 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** well, you´re actually too cute to be a Slytherin.  

Too cute. _Cute_ _cute_ _cute_ _cute_ _cute_ _._  

A pink flush crept up on Marti´s face as he starred at his phone, reading over the message he just received again. And again and again. 

A minute has passed, maybe two. He waited for Nico to write something more. Another teasing message. To expose his latest message as a joke. Nothing serious. But nothing came.  

So it was Marti who continued the chat. 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** Oh come on, stop teasing me. I´m not cute 

And then he waited again. A few minutes passed, the green dot next to Nico´s name was still there. But no message came in.  

Marti wrote another one. 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** I´m a Syltherin, cope with it. And stop teasing, bro.  

 _Bro_ . Honestly, Marti. Actually,  _how_ stupid are you?! There´s a guy you like and-- 

Marti stopped his thoughts before they could go on. He´s nice. Yeah, really. Good looking. Well, according to his pictures on his Bookstagram account. Yeah, handsome. Funny. Marti loves this teasing atmosphere between them. Yeah, definitely funny.  

As many good qualities he could name now, he still should stop. Has to stop. He doesn´t want Nico to turn into one of his stupid crushes. Not him. He was too nice to be one of those.  

Martino was about to delete his last message. Take it back. Make the “bro” disappear. But as he was about to do so, the “seen” notification appeared under the message. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. 

And then Nico began to type.  

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Oh Marti, stop denying it. 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** You´re cute. You are.  

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  and by the way, sorry that I´m answering only now. Insta fucked up again (wow tell me something new) and broke down all the time and wouldn´t let me send messages to you. So yeah, sorry again 

Before Marti could even properly think about Nico´s last message, he was starring at his display again. Kind of second nature for him by now. But Niccolò really just admitted that he found him cute. Him. Martino Rametta. He felt his heart beat a little faster, trying to proceed this realizing. A smile creeping up his lips.  

 **martislibrary** **:**  c´mon, let´s forget about that 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:**  And don´t worry. I know this struggle pretty well by now 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  the stuggle is real, isn´t it.  

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** It definitely is 

 **martislibrary** **:** Insta not allowing you to like or comment posts, posts not uploading or especially insta direct message fucking up completely – who doesn´t know it? 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  It´s a mood, same here same here  

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  but hey, you wanna end our suffering? 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** huh? 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles:** what about exchanging numbers and transferring our conversation to Whatsapp? 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** Ops. Sorry, now I get it, haha 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** Yeah, why not 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** don´t be!! 

 **m** **artislibrary** **:**  0039 325 6890 232

 **m** **artislibrary** **:** Well then, that´s my number 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** MARTI WAIT!!?! 

 **n** **icoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  You´RE FROM ITALY?!? 

 **martislibrary** **:** YES I AM FROM ROME: WHY? 

 **martislibrary** **:**  AND WHY ARE WE SCREAMING? 

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Me too 

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:** I´M FROM ITALY TOO!! 

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles** **:**  Well, from Rome too to be more excact 

Marti was sure that his heart skipped a beat. Or two maybe. Nico was here. Well, he´s living in the same country as he does. Not only the same country. He´s living in Rome, in the same city as him. This never has happened to him before. It´s not that he hasn´t made friends or got the know people through his Bookstagram account. Definitely not, he got to know some of the best people ever. But the thing is that all of them kind of live at the other end of the world. (Okay, not really at the other end of the world but it feels like it. Sadly.) He doesn´t know why. This doesn´t mean anything. Doesn´t mean they're actually going to see each other once. In real-life. But still, Marti was surprisingly happy.  

His thoughts got distracted by his ringing phone. An unknown number calling. Well, to be honest he was sure the person wasn´t that unknown. So he picked up.  

“Ciao Marti,” Niccolò said and Marti was basically able to hear his grin through the phone. 

Martino knew the best and normal reaction would have been to answer. Greet him too. But he went silent for a few minutes. He´s really talking to Nico. And gosh, his voice! It was deep, not too deep, and very pleasing to the ear. The way it wrapped around his name, said it out loud. He wasn´t prepared. It was beautiful. Like him, he thought, and tried to discard this thought as fast as possible. Come on Marti, don´t be stupid now! 

“Ciao Nico,” he finally answered, a smile forming on his lips. 

“Ciao again. I know, this is probably the worst way ever to start a conversation but I really mean it: How are you?” 

“I´m fine and you? I know, this is probably the worst way to answer to the worst start of a conversation but I really mean it,” Marti answered, a little cheeky and a silent laugh escaped his laugh. 

“As funny as in your messages. I like, Marti, I like. And I´m fine too by the way.,” Nico said, joining Marti with his laughing. 

And damn, his laugh. Marti could listen to it for hours. No, this is no exaggeration. Really.  

“Well, I´m the master of being funny. Get used to it” 

“I guess I need to, Marti. Especially as I wanted to ask you what you´re doing the coming weekend.” 

“Why are you asking? I don´t think I´ve planned anything.,” Marti answered, furrowing his brow.  

“Well then: What about meeting up? Going to a coffee shop? Maybe taking some pics together. For Instagram, you know. What do you say?,” Nico asked. 

At first Martino didn´t say anything. Nico really wants to meet him. He didn´t expect anything special to happen today. And well, now  _this_ happened.  

“Ahm, sounds great. I´d really love that.,” he said, full of enthusiasm.  

"Yeah? I´d really love that too, Marti. Really. What about Saturday?” 

“Saturday sounds great!” 

“Perfect. It´s a date then. Well, a meet up, you know what I mean.” 

“When and where would you like to meet?” 

“Hm, what about--,” Nico wasn´t able to finish the sentence as Marti suddenly heard a woman´s voice in the background. 

“Nico? Please come to the kitchen, I really need your help with dinner. You can continue talking later, okay?,” she said, Marti assumed it was his mother. Nico reassured her that he would be there in a minute before Marti heard a door close, silence at the other end of the phone.  

“I´m sorry Marti, you probably heard it but I need to help my mom. What about texting about the time and place of our meet up later? There´s still some time till Saturday.” 

“Sounds good. And I guess it´s time to say goodbye then. At least for now.”  

“It is. But Marti?” 

“Hm?” 

“Before that: Don´t think that I´m already over the fact that you´re apparently a Slytherin. I´m really meeting up with a Slytherin.,” Nico said and Marti could hear him laugh a little. A smile appearing on his face again. Well, it kind of has been there since the moment he heard Nico´s voice for the first time. 

“Oh, come on! Not apparently! The stupid hat spoke, I´m a Slytherin, get over it!” 

“And again: Stop insulting the Sorting Hat, Marti! This isn´t funny!” 

“We´ll see, Nico. I can talk about this hat the way I want to. Freedom of expression, you know?,” he had to laugh again.  

“And now I think you should probably really go and help your mother in the kitchen.,” Marti said.  

“Yeah, I probably sould.” 

“Well then: Goodbye Nico.” 

“Goodbye Marti. See you.” 

\--- 

And then the call ended.  

And only then Marti really realised what just happened. 

And then it hit him.  

He´s going to meet Nico this week.  

The Nico he likes. Only as a friend. Of course.  

The Nico that shouldn´t turn into one of his hopeless crushes. One of many.  

Damn. Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me quite a while to get this chapter done, don´t ask me why. And I´m kinda insecure about it butt I still hope you like it!  
> Would love to hear what you think in the comments <3
> 
> And yes, one of my best friendships ever developed because we were ranting about insta direct message and exchanged numbers afterwards - this actually happens, haha :D


	4. The Vanishing Screen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marti sighed as he put his phone away and tried to gather himself before he finally started walking to the coffee shop. 
> 
> Let´s go! You were so excited for this meeting and so happy about it, so what should happen? Stop being so nervous and dramatic, he said to himself as he turned around the corner, finally arriving at their gathering place. 
> 
> And there he was. Niccolò. 
> 
> He stood right in front of the door, looking down at his mobile phone.

**-The** **Vanishing** ~~**Glass**~~ **Screen-**  

 **Nico Bookstagram**  

 _So, 1_ _3:30_ _at_ _the_ _arranged_ _coffee_ _shop_ _next_ _to_ _the_ _Colosseum_ _?_  

 

Marti was reading through this message over and over again. It´s not that he wouldn´t kind of know it by heart now. Not that he couldn´t quote Nico´s exact words.  Not that he didn´t get by now when and where they´re going to meet up. But still, better to play it safe than being too late or too early.  

A few days have passed since they´ve found out that they´re both living in Rome. Well, five to be more exact. Not that Martino would have counted the days till their meeting. No. Never. 

Okay, let´s stop lying. He did. He thought about their get-together daily. From Monday to today. Every fucking day.  

Someone might find this whole situation weird. Meeting someone you´ve got to know through the Internet, through Instagram. And especially being this happy and excited about meeting a person you´ve never seen before.  

It never happened to Marti before. Meeting one of the friends he made through his Bookstagram account. Most likely because of the fact that the life in different countries, all around the globe. But things were different with Nico. He´s living in the same city, they are actually able to meet.  

And that´s how Marti found himself standing at the corner of a street, one city block away from the café they are supposed to meet. 

And he´s nervous. Well, kind of. It´s the good type of being nervous. The one that makes your stomach flutter, that makes your heart beat a little faster. The one that-- 

Well, just the good kind of being nervous. Being excited. Full of anticipation.  

As he looked at his phone to check the time, he saw that he had an unread message from Nico. 

  

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _I´m already there and waiting in front of the coffee shop, okay?_  

 

Another one was incoming only a few moments later. 

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _Can´t wait to meet you!_ _😀_  

 

 _I´m coming in a minute, just a street away_  

 

 _Meeting up in front of the café sounds good!_  

 

 _And same, I can´t wait too_ _😊_  

 

 

 

Marti sighed as he put his phone away and tried to gather himself before he finally started walking to the coffee shop.  

Let´s go! You were so excited for this meeting and so happy about it, so what should happen? Stop being so nervous and dramatic, he said to himself as he turned around the corner, finally arriving at their gathering place.  

And there he was. Niccolò. 

He stood right in front of the door, looking down at his mobile phone.  

Marti couldn´t help (again) and had to stop walking, starring at Nico. He felt a bit like a creep, weird as he stood there, looking at Nico who hasn´t seen him yet, preoccupied by whatever he was doing on his phone.  

It´s not that Marti didn´t know how Nico looked, what to expect. He saw his photos on Instagram or stories where he showed himself. And he´s seen his profile pic on WhatsApp. Only once, of course. He hasn´t opened the icon several times to look at it. No, never. 

But still, he was amazed. By the boy standing in front of him. Well, nearly. He was beautiful. Like, literally beautiful.  

One of his dark, black curls was falling into his face and Nico blew it away again. It looked cute and Marti had to laugh at the image in front of his eyes. 

And that was the moment Nico looked up from his phone, directly into Marti´s eyes. A wide smile appeared on his face.  

And wow. Seeing Niccolò smile was probably one of the most beautiful things Marti has ever witnessed.  

“Marti!” Nico was saying as Marti finally went the few steps to him, now standing directly in front of him. Nico.  

“Hey,” Marti answered, a smile on his lips. Well, kind of. He´s not sure if it´s an actual smile his lips have just formed. Nico´s smile became wider, if that´s even possible, and he suddenly wrapped his arms around Marti, hugging him.  

Marti was surprised at first, didn´t move, didn´t know what to do. As he gathered himself again, he reciprocated the embracement, wrapping his arms around Nico too. 

“Hey,” Nico said, grinning again. “We´re actually meeting, huh?” 

“We are! It´s great, isn´t it?” Marti said enthusiastic, a laugh escaping him.  

“It is! By the way, I like your laugh.,” Nico tossed in.  

Marti blushed. Literally blushed. His cheeks were turning bright pink and he looked down, trying to hide it and to not embarrass himself in front of Nico already. They´ve seen each other for like three minutes or something like that so far. It´s really too early for the embarrassment right now. 

As he saw that Niccolò was grinning at him, raising one of his eyebrows, he realized his attempt at hiding his blush probably failed. Damn it! 

“Never mind, Marti. Wanna go inside?,” Nico asked and Marti nodded, a little smile appearing on his lips again.  

Nico responded with a smile as he patted Marti´s back and lead him into the inside of the coffee shop.  

\--- 

“You already know what you want to order?,” Nico asked Marti as they stood next to each other at the counter, looking up at the menu. 

“Yeah, I´ll take a black coffee, nothing special. You?” 

“Hey, not that fast. I need to take my time. I´m not that boring to just order a single black coffee.” 

“So you wanna tell me I´m boring now?” 

“Prove me otherwise then,” Nico said, raising his eyebrow again. The tip of his tongue was leaking out of his lips as he starred directly into Marti´s eyes. 

It feels as if he was directly starring past the walls of safety Marti has built around him, starring into his soul, his heart.  

“How should I do this?,” Marti asked, looking back at Nico. Trying to raise his eyebrow too, aborted the idea of doing so after the littlest moment again as he realized he would probably fail at it.  

“Order something else, be brave. Not a  _boring_ black coffee, Marti. It´s so stereotypical.” 

“Stereotypical, huh? This has nothing to do with being boring, I´m ust trying to spend my money on things I actually know I like.” 

“Pff, boring Marti, boooring!,” Nico said, grinning again.  

Damn, Marti will never get tired of seeing him grin or laugh. Yes, he was able to tell that after this short span of time already, forgetting his resolution of not falling for Nico, him not turning into a hopeless crush, for a second. 

“Well then, I need to take some time to figure out what to drink as I´m not ordering the same thing as every time. Go on, you can order in the meantime if you want.” 

Marti nodded as he made his way to the cashier, ordering his black coffee. As always.  

The guy working behind the counter didn´t stop smiling at Marti the whole time. He had a nice smile, Marti couldn´t deny it. But it was no Nico-smile. And if Nico wouldn´t have been there he would have thought about it, the smile, the boy itself more. He may have even turned into one of his countless crushes. One of those crushes that didn´t mean anything. But today was different. Niccolò was here.  

And right now, he was making his way towards Marti, laying his arm around his shoulders.  

“So you´ve finally decided what you want?,” Marti asked him, grinning again. 

Yeah, again. He has already stopped to count the times he smiled or grin today. It would have been useless.  

“Hm,” Nico nodded.  

“One black coffee?” the boy behind the counter asked, looking into Marti´s eyes. “It was you wasn´t it?” 

Marti nodded, taking the cup of coffee.  

“Thank you,” he looked back at the guy who smiled at him, brightly. 

“Enjoy it! And the Matcha Frappuccino with additional vanilla syrup was for you, right?,” he asked Nico, the smile on his lips a little forced by now.  

“Yep! Thank you.,” Nico took it, his attention coming back to Marti again.  

“Any wishes regarding our table?” 

“What about the one in the corner back there?” Marti asked, pointing to a free table at the back. 

“Seems good!” Nico was already heading there, Marti was following.  

As they were heading there, Nico suddenly went closer to Marti, trying to whisper something in his ear. 

“You know, the guy at the counter checked you out,” he said, grinning at Marti. 

“He did what?” Marti asked bewildered, starring at Nico. 

“Checking you out, looking up and down your body, smiling at you the whole time, you know?” 

“He did not!” Marti protested. 

“Oh, you should have seen it from my perspective. He did, Marti and he wasn´t subtle at all!” 

“I´m not--,” Marti wanted to say, stopping midsentence.  

 _I´m not gay._  

The sentence he´s told himself so often already. But this was years ago. He´s come over it. He´s not denying it anymore, at least not to himself.  

“He did not.,” he tried it again, being more satisfied with his answer this time.  

“Come on, let´s go or my  _boring_ coffee will get cold.” 

“After you,” Nico said as they have finally reached their chosen table, sitting down. 

\--- 

“So you wanna really tell me that “Illuminati” is your favorite book?!,” Nico asked Marti, playfully shocked.  

“Yeah, what´s wrong with that? It´s great.” 

“It was shit, Marti. Shit!” 

“Hey hey hey, stop! Do I need to remind you about freedom of expression again? I too don´t go around and shit on Harry Potter.” 

“Well, Marti, you do? May I remind you of the “weird talking hat?” Nico said, a grin on his face. 

“There´s no way to deny it, he´s actually weird.,” Marti answered, looking Nico in the eyes. 

“And there´s no way to deny that “Illuminati” is shit,” Niccolò looked back at Marti.  

Both were looking into the eyes of the other boy for a few seconds before they burst out in laugher.  

Marti drank another sip of his coffee, the cup empty by now. Whereas Nico´s jar was still filled with some weird looking, green liquor.  

“What even are you drinking, Nico? It looks like it is poisoned!” Marti said, looking sceptical at the content of his cup. 

“It´s not poisoned, Marti! It´s Matcha, it´s healthy!” 

“Well, it doesn´t look like it. Healthy, I mean.” 

“Want to try a sip?” 

Marti´s sceptical look came back while he looked at Nico´s drink again. Bright green in its colour.  

“Come on, try it! Don´t be boring again, it´s really good!” Nico tried to convince Martino as he slipped the cup over the table, over to Marti.  

Marti sighted and nodded as he took the cup and a sip.  

And he immediately made a face, grimaced.  

“Oh my gosh Nico, this is terrible! How can you even drink this by choice?!” 

“Stop being so dramatic, Marti! It´s great,” Nico said, laughing, before he took another sip, being exaggerated with his face, showing he´s enjoying his drink.  

“You´re simply weird. That´s it.,” responded Marti as he shook his head.  

“I´m the weird one, huh?  _Mr. I don´t like Harry Potter_ ,” Nico looked at Marti, challenging, who grinned back at him.  

“Oh come on, stop it already!” Marti said, trying to sound annoyed.  

“Okay, okay, I´ll stop it. For now,” a grin settled on Nico´s face again.  

“For now,” Marti responded, parroting Nico as he mirrored the grin of the boy opposite of him.  

“Yeah, for now. But let´s put the whole Harry Potter debate away  _for now_  and talk about something more serious: How´s school going?” 

Marti had to laugh, their whole conversation being kind of hilarious right now. But not in a bad way, it felt good. It was fun talking with Nico. 

“Really? You´re actually asking me about school now? Well, but if you want to know: Good? Don´t know. Can school actually be good? It´s bearable, I guess. Simply normal. Honestly Nico? Which kind of answer did you expected? You´re actually asking me the most random question right now!” Marti had to laugh, couldn´t help it, doesn´t even know why, but he had to laugh. 

As he looked up into Niccolò´s eyes he saw that he had to laugh to. A bright smile on his lips, cringeling up to his eyes, making them shine.  

“What?! It´s an interesting question! I want to know what´s going on in the lifes of my friends,” Nico raised an eyebrow at Marti. “And if you think this question is random or boring you should hear what my parents are talking about or asking me every day. In the morning, after school, at diner.  _This_ can be annoying, Marti, hear me out.” 

“You´re still living with your parents?” 

“Yep I am, with my mom and dad? You too? Or are you one of those rebellious teenager that move away from their parents as soon as they turn sixteen?” 

“Nope, no rebellious teenager, I thought you could guess that as I´m apparently boring according to my choice of drink. But well no, I´m living with my mom” 

“Only your mom? No dad?” Nico asked, curiously.  

And with that he stroke one of Marti´s nerves.  

It´s not that he isn´t over his dad moving out by now. Leaving him and his mother on their own. His things packed up in boxes, standing in the hallway of their apartment, still not picked up by yet.  Starting a new life with a new, perfect family. Without a wife who isn´t always up, always happy. Without him. Well, kind of.  

He still tries to contact Marti, tries to invite him over for dinner with his new family. His new wife. His  _new son_. Tries to be a father to him as if nothing has happened. As if he hadn´t just left.  

All of his attempts failing as Marti tries to block them, tries to cut his father out of his life.  

Enjoying the life he has with the people who are the most important to him. His mother. Yes, he loves her. Even if it´s not the easiest all the time. With her down phases. But he´s learned how to handle them, what to do when his mother simply didn't find the strength to get out of bed from time to time. And still, even if it´s not easy all the time, he loves her, no matter what.  

His thoughts drifted back to Niccolò again, finally answering his question.  

“No, no dad. Just my mom and me” 

Martino looked up again and caught Nico´s wondering gaze. He inhaled. Exhaled. 

And suddenly he found himself telling Nico the whole story about his father leaving, his mother and his home life.  

This is special, it really is. It´s not that the whole thing is a secret or anything, everyone in his life who´s important to him knows about it. It simply took him some time to tell it. He basically isolated himself completely as his father left, didn´t want to see or talk to anyone these days. Didn´t plan on getting out of bed for like forever. Since the day Gio, his best friend, suddenly stood in front of their apartment door. Not willing to go again, not accepting any excuses anymore. And so Marti told him what was going on in his life at the moment. That his father simply left. That his mother had one of the worst depressive episodes for a very long time. And he cried. Giovanni simply hugging him, giving him the chance to let all his feelings out for once, soothing him. It took him some time to open up and tell his best friend. But he´s glad he did. 

About a week later he told the rest of his friends. 

And now he sat there, finding himself telling the whole story to Nico. After what felt like such a short time knowing each other. But still, he felt good. He doesn´t know what it is or why it´s like that but he felt comfortable. There was a special kind of comfort surrounding him while he sat there together with Niccolò, telling him some private stuff. It felt good to not keeping this a secret as the topic came up. And Marti was glad to let it all out again, even if he kind of came over it by now.  

It just felt... right. Opening himself up, telling Nico all of this. He felt like there was an instant connection between the two of them, making him feel comfortable next to Nico whilst telling his story.  

“And well, that´s basically the story of how I ended up living together with my mother only. And I´m so glad that I have her, she´s the best. Even if it´s not the easiest from time to time because of her issues, but still, she´s great,” Marti said as a smile settled on his face as he thought about his mom.  

“Her issues?” Nico asked, the tone of his voice a bit suspicious, unsure.  

Her  _issues_ . Depression. There has been a time where all of this had been a problem. For him. He couldn´t cope with her down phases, talked shit about it and her, where he didn´t want to be there for her, didn´t want to spend time with  _”crazy”_  people.  

But all of this has passed. He had learned, learned what he did wrong, what he should have done instead. And he tried to rebuild the relationship with his mom. And it worked, it´s stronger than ever by now. And he´s so thankful and glad about it, he loved it.  

“Yeah, she has depression,” Marti responded as he came back to Nico and his question. 

“Depression?” Nico asked, a making a concerned face. 

Marti looked up and nodded.  

“And that´s okay for you?” Nico continued and asked.  

“Yeah of course! Why shouldn´t it be okay?” Marti asked confused.  

“Don´t know, it´s just that many people can´t cope with others who have a mental illness, will support you and stay with you till, well, you actually have an episode,” Nico said, looking down. 

As Nico asked him the question if he´s okay with his mother being depressive he got a bit anxious at first, already thinking the worst, that Niccolò would be one of those persons he just described, not supporting or liking anyone who has to handle a mental illness. But he was wrong.  

“No, definitely not! Well okay, there was a time where we had our problems and struggles, some of them caused by my sight of her mental illness. But this changed, really, I´m not proud of myself thinking back. She´s so important to me, I wouldn´t abandon her just because of her illness, never again. Really, never,” he exhaled, relieved.  

“That´s great! I´m happy for you, Marti,” Nico said as he looked up, directly into Marti´s eyes again and smiled.  

“I´m happy too,” Marti smiled back, looking Nico in the eyes for a few seconds. 

Both of their gazes were set down to the table after it, fiddling at their empty mugs.  

And silence hit in. No uncomfortable kind of, Marti still felt good, felt that there wasn´t the need to talk all the time. And he kind of felt that Nico was feeling the same.  

As he looked up again after some time has passed, he met Nico´s eyes staring at him. His beautiful, beautiful eyes.  

They were smiling at each other. And then Niccolò broke the silence.  

“Wanna leave? Go and take a walk? Maybe take some pictures for Instagram somewhere?” 

“Yeah, sounds great, why not!” 

Both of them stood up and left the coffee shop. Martino stealing a glance at Nico as he held the door open for him. He sighted then he followed him out into the fresh air. 

\--- 

It was a nice and warm October evening, the sun still shining lightly, ready to finally set soon.  

And Martino and Niccolò were walking through Rome, enjoying the last bit of sun, enjoying the presence of the other one. 

Marti really felt at ease whilst being together with Nico.  

“What about that spot back there? The wall with the ivy blooming on it? It looks like a great spot for a picture,” Nico said, looking at Marti, waiting for his opinion. 

“Yeah, you´re right, it does look really cool,” Marti responded and short after they were heading there. Both taking a book and their phones out of their back bags, starting with their normal Bookstagram-Routine. Trying to take different photos from their books, different perspectives, different image details.  

Martino was drowned in the making of his photo that he didn´t even realized that Nico was asking him something.  

“Marti? You here with me?” 

“Huh? Ähm yeah, I´m sorry, I didn´t hear you,” he stuttered, looking at the ground.  

“Don´t worry! Please!” Nico said, smiling at him. “But could you maybe take a picture of me while I´m pretending to read? You know, the whole fake reading thing every Bookstagramer has probably done once in their life?” Nico asked and had to laugh at his one sentence. His laugh was catching, so Marti couldn´t help and hat to join in.  

“For sure,” he said as he took Nico´s phone and took a few pictures of him, trying different angles.  

As he was finished, he gave the phone back to Niccolò and he looked at the pictures Marti took. A smile forming on his face. 

“Those are great, Marti! Thank you! You do have talent!” Nico looked at him, smiling brightly. 

Marti blushed, looking down at the floor and tried to hide his smile.  

“Stop it, it´s nothing special!” 

“Marti come on! It is special, of course!” 

They smiled at each other before Marti looked down to his feet again. Damn it! Come on, just look him in the eyes, it´s not that hard.  

As he looked up, he met Nico looking at him, still smiling.  

“What about taking a picture together? A little memory of today?” 

Marti liked the idea so he got next to Nico who pulled him closer, wrapping his arm around Marti´s shoulder.  

It was nothing special, just a little touch, two friends taking a picture together but still – it sent shivers down his spine.  

They looked into the camera, both smiling and Marti couldn´t help, stealing a little glance at Nico through his mobile phone display. Smiling even wider. 

As they´ve finished their photo session, they packed their things and started walking again, becoming silent.  

\--- 

The sun has set nearly completely by now, wrapping the city in a beautiful orange and red light.  

A fresh breeze was blowing through the air, making everything colder as evening set in.  

And Marti didn´t even realize that he was freezing, nearly shivering. Not till the moment Nico called him out on it. 

“Marti? Are you cold?” 

Marti looked up at Nico, being a little surprised that he actually noticed it.  

“What? No?” Marti immediately answered, trying to deny it.  

Nico simply grinned and raised his eyebrows at him, not looking convinced.  

“Okay okay, I´m cold. Just a little bit” 

As soon as Martino has finished his sentence, Nico already started to unwrap his scarf and handed it to Marti. 

“Here, take it! I don´t need it, it´s not that cold” 

Marti didn´t want to take it at first, try to convince Nico to let it be. But he didn´t. 

“You´re actually shivering, Marti! Come on, please, take it!” 

He sighted as he gave in, a little smile appearing on his face as he took Nico´s scarf at wrapped it around his neck.  

“Thank you,” they both smiled at each other as they continued their walk. Through the streets of Rome.  

As Marti finally looked at where they actually were (not his first priority as he walked close to Nico) he realized that they were close to the St. Peter´s Basilica and Via della Conciliazione, one of his favorite places in Rome.  

“What about taking this direction, going to St. Peter´s Basilica? Maybe take pictures there? I really like this place, it´s beautiful,” Marti said, looking questioning at Nico.  

“Yeah, sounds great, let´s go there!” 

No sooner said than done and they were heading there.  

It took them about half an hour to get there. Passing the time of their walk talking about this and that: School, their friends and family or just discussing about the newest book releases.  

Somewhen during this time Marti´s phone in his pocket started vibrating. But he was simply ignoring it, focused on Nico and their talk. It was probably just the Contrabbandieri group chat with Luca sending some weird messages. Nothing special. Contrary to spending time together with Niccolò, walking through the streets of Rome together. His friends could wait this time. 

As he came back from his thoughts, looking for Nico, he saw that he was right in the middle of another photo session, standing right on Via della Conciliazione, trying to bring of his book in the pictures he took in the best way possible.  

Marti simply stood there, watching him. Being fascinated by this boy in front of him. He knew that he was good looking, he saw pictures of him on Instagram before, but meeting him in person, spending time with him and actually talk with him, not only through the phone – it was something special.  

“What about you, Marti? Don´t you want to take some pictures too?” Nico asked, getting Marti away from his thoughts and back to reality.  

“I already did enough but go on, your pictures will look great!” 

Niccolò got back to photographing, smiling. 

Marti took advantage of the moment, pulling out his phone, looking at the messages he got. Feeling like thousands according to his phone not stopping vibrating in his pocket 

 **Il** **Contrabbandieri** **di** **Luchino**  

 _17:33_  

 **Elia**  

 _18:00 at you place @_ _Gio_ _? Still up to date?_  

 **Luchino**  

 _I just stopped at the supermarket to get some wine_  

 **Gio**  

 _Yep still up to date_  

 **Gio**  

 _Your 2-euro wine? Keep it to yourself man, it tastes like shit_  

 **Elia**  

 _Garau is right for one_  

 **Gio**  

 _For once?! Come on bro, you know I´m the most_ _intelligent_ _one out of us_  

 **Luchino**  

 _I´m standing in front of your door_  

 **Gio**  

 _Wait I´ll come and open it_  

 **Elia**  

 _I´ll be there in two minutes too_  

 

 _18:06_  

 **Gio**  

 _Marti? What_ _aboutt_ _you, where are you?_  

 _18:19_  

 **Gio**   

 _Did anything happen?_  

 **Elia**  

 _Get your ass over here!_  

 

Marti looked at the time on his phone. 18:38. 

Fuck! 

“Huh?” Nico asked as he came back to Marti, standing next to him again.  

“Did I just say this out loud? Damn it!” Marti said as he realized he swore out loud. 

“You did. Any bad news?” 

“Well, I only had something planned with my friends. And shit, I totally forgot it!” he said as he put his hands to his head, tearing at his hair. 

“You can still go, right? Being late once won´t be a problem, right?” 

“You´re right. No, it won´t be a problem” 

“Well then, go! Don´t ditch them because of a random guy you met on the Internet. This doesn´t have to be our last meet up, right?” Nico responded and a little unsure smile formed on his lips.  

“Hey Nico, you´re my friend too, okay? And yes, we have to meet up again! I really liked today, it was a great time together with you!” Marti said and smiled at Nico. An honest smile, coming from the bottom of is heart. He meant it.  

Nico´s smile evolving from being a bit unsure to being sincere too, his eyes crackling up a bit.  

It was beautiful to see him smile like that, Marti thought. 

“That´s great, Marti! And now go! Not that I want you to but yeah, you know” 

They just stood there, a few seconds just smiling at each other before they hugged each other goodbye.  

Then they both went their own ways, going home. Or in Marti´s case going to Gio. 

 

 **Il** **Contrabbandieri** **di** **Luchino**  

 _I´m so sorry guys!! Something came in_ _-_ _between. I´ll be there in 20 minutes. Sorry._  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... This was kinda long, I´m sorry.  
> And yayyy, they finally met each other :D And performing the daily Bookstagram lifestyle. Yeah, that´s actually a thing, haha :D
> 
> And thank you for reading! Would love to hear what you think of it in the comments, I´d really appreciate that <3


	5. The Love Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Marti? What´s up with that smile? You seem happy,” Gio interrupted his thoughts, leaning closer to him. The other two boys still occupied by their discussion. 
> 
> “It´s a nice evening so why not be happy?” 
> 
> “And that´s it?” Gio asked, looking at Marti suspiciously. 
> 
> Yes, Giovanni knew him too well to not recognise a lie. Or let´s not call it lie, let´s say excuse. Technically it´s not a lie. It was indeed a nice evening. That the real reason for his bright smile already happened this afternoon, a meet up with a certain boy, but well, that´s another story. 
> 
> “Yup, that´s it”

** -The  ** ~~** Potion´s ** ~~ **  Love Master- **

It  was  already  19:00  when Marti arrived at  Gio´s appartment . 

“ Aii  Marti, finally!” his best friend greeted him as he opened the door for him, letting him in. 

“Come in, we´re already in the middle of a FIFA game and  Luchino  already had a few beers. And you know how he is. One or two more and he won´t stop telling us about his undying love for Silvia the entire evening. So come in, you don´t want to miss this.”

“Do I really?” Marti asked, raising his eyebrows and grinned.

“Well okay, maybe not,”  Gio  countered, mirroring Marti´s grin. “But still, come in. If not for the sake of listening to Luca´s miserable love life but for the sake of a beer, hm?” ä

“Beer sounds good,” Martino said as he undressed and put his jacket away. 

“Nice scarf by the way,”  Gio  remarked. “Is it new?”

Then it hit Marti. 

And he looked down at his neck, frantic.

_ Fuck.  _

He´s still wearing Niccolò´s scarf.

_ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.  _

He forgot to give it back to him. 

And now he needs to explain to Gio that´s not his scarf. That it belongs to the boy he met for the first time today. The boy who´s the reason that he came late today. The boy he may or may not like. Really. Maybe. 

Or he finds a convincing excuse. 

“ I ... Yeah, it´s new. Yeah, it´s new!”

_ Convincing, Marti. Very convincing _ , he thought to himself after he´d stuttered that excuse to his best friend. 

“Looks good. It suits you,”  Gio  responded, giving him a smile. Not addressing the weird change of his voice and the stuttering. Thank god.

“But now come on, get to the living room. Elia and  Luchino  are already waiting. And a beer of course,” he continued as he walked to the living room, Martino following him behind.

\---

“Aiii Marti, you finally got your ass to us. A wonder!” Elia said as he greeted Marti, fist bumping him. Followed by Luca doing the same. 

He sat down on the couch next to  Gio , exhaling deeply and loud before he took the beer can  Gio  handed him. The took a big sip before he put it down on the table in front of him and leaned back on the couch. 

“Everything okay, bro?” Elia asked, giving him a suspicious look.

“Huh?” Marti asked, a little confused. What has he done now?

“You seem stressed,” Luchino responded, continuing Elia´s thoughts.

“I´m not stressed!” Marti answered immediately, out of habit, even if it may not be the truth.

But okay, maybe he was lying. Kind of. Yes, he stressed himself when he went to  Gio´s  place. Not to take that much time to get there. To reduce his coming late. But that´s it. The day was too good to be major stressed or in a bad mood in general. 

“No? You sure?” Gio demanded, looking sceptical at Marti.

“No,” Marti tried to reassure his friends. “Okay, I was stressed while going there but that was a one-of-a-kind thing, nothing special”          

“Anyway, why did you even come late?” Elia asked, looking at Marti, questioning. 

And well,  _ fuck _ . 

It´s not that he wouldn´t want his friends to know about Nico, that he wants to keep him a secret. A secret from  Gio . From Elia and Luca. His best friends. It´s not that he doesn´t trust them. But still, he wants to keep Nico to himself. At least for a little while. 

So  he goes with an excuse.

“I... I just forgot  time  whilst reading”

“You forget time while you were  _ reading _ ? That´s it? That´s the excuse for leaving us alone for so long and with a tipsy  Luchino ? You know how he is when he´s drunk: Silvia here, Silvia there,” Elia complained. 

“That´s not true! I´m not that desperate!”  Luchino  tried to defend himself which failed immediately. 

“Bro, you are!” Marti stated and  Gio  and Elia joined him. 

“Marti´s right,  Luchi , you are!”  Gio  said, laughing. 

“Yes, true that. Silvia´s hair here, Silvia´s  oufit  there, you´re failed attempts at hitting on her, Silvia everywhere bro!” Elia threw in. 

And so the discussion about Luca being desperate and madly in love with Silvia or not goes on. 

Marti watches his friend as discussed, gesticulating  dramatically . 

And a smile appeared on his face while he watched  them  being silly. Just being them. 

And even if he didn´t planned on it, even if he didn´t wanted it with his friends being present next to him, his thoughts drifted back to Nico. 

Thinking about his humour, his laugh, in general...him. And the fact that he would fit perfectly into their little group of friends. Luca would probably adore him, not to blame him, Elia would probably like him too. And the same with  Gio , at least after he´s seen that Marti really likes him. Niccolò.

He really couldn´t help it, get rid of the picture forming in front of his eyes. And evening like this together with the boys, spending time together, drinking a few beers, playing FIFA. Everyone spread out on the couch or on the floor. And him curled up against Nico, his arms around him. 

This idea brought a smile to is face, possibly the biggest one this evening so far, and he couldn´t hide it. 

“Marti? What´s up with that smile? You seem happy,”  Gio  interrupted his thoughts, leaning closer to him. The other two boys still occupied by their discussion.

“It´s a nice evening so why not be happy?”

“And that´s it?”  Gio  asked, looking at Marti suspiciously.

Yes, Giovanni knew him too well to not recognise a lie. Or let´s not call it lie, let´s say excuse. Technically it´s not a lie. It was indeed a nice evening. That the real reason for his bright smile already happened this afternoon, a meet up with a certain boy,  but  well, that´s another story. 

“Yup, that´s it”

“But I guess we have something to really make you happy then,  more happy  than now. Right boys?”  Gio  said as he looked at Elia and Luca who stopped their conversation by now. 

“You know, that party we attended last weekend?”  Gio  started,  introducing  the new topic. 

“The one with those girls we talked about?” Luca said, a dreaming look  on  his face.

 And here they were again. That topic.  _ Girls _ .

“The one you didn´t attend,” Elia continued, bringing him back.

“That doesn´t matter right now,”  Gio  said before he continued, “and anyway, we met some girls, as  Luchi  has already stated, and spent some time with them, one especially, and guess what? She has a best friend who´s single at the moment!”

It took Marti some time to process the information and as soon as he did  Gio  already continued. 

“And now to the best part of it: She´s totally your type!” he said  enthusiastically , looking and smiling at Marti.

Totally his type. Well, not really.

“What´s my type then? I´d like to know it?” Marti asked, grinning at his best friend. 

“Oh  come on Marti, as if you didn´t know!”

Well, he knows. But he´s probably the only one. Boys. 

“But if you insist let me tell you, I´m the Love Master after all-,” Giovanni got interrupted by Elia.

“The Love Master?! Really bro?!”

“Of course! There´s no way you can deny it. I´m the Love Master! And now back to the actual topic and let me tell you what you´re type is, Marti: Dark hair, curls, nice eyes, green eyes, a beautiful smile and in general just a friendly person. Just like the friend of the girl we met at said party.”

_ Dark, curly hair. Nice, green eyes. A beautiful smile. A friendly person.  _

Well, he knows someone who fits that description  perfectly.  Not the girl his friends were talking about. Someone else. Someone better. A boy. Niccolò. 

“And as we already said, she´s single. And we´ve got her number.  So  I guess this is the perfect situation to play matchmaker for you and set you up with her. It´s time that you´ll get laid again, Marti. It really is, you´re becoming boring!” Elia said, throwing a grin at Marti.

“I´m not boring!” he tried to defend himself, earning an eyebrow raise from Elia. 

“Well, at least make out. Have fun. Whatever you want,”  Gio  said, the same smile as on Elia´s face appeared on his. 

“ So  you´re trying to set me up with someone I´ve never met or even heard of before? Just because she´s apparently my type?”

“She´s your type, stop lying, Marti!” Luca butted in this time. 

“Even if it would be like that,” and he knows it´s not, “stop that! Just stop it!”

“ Oh  come on Marti, it´s just for your best! Please?”  Gio  asked, a begging look on his face. “We have the perfect plan for you. 

“Oh, so you have the perfect plan? Even if it would be like that, what I actually doubt as, well, it´s you three that came up with it, I don´t want to be set--,” he didn´t get the chance to finish his sentence as Gio, Elia and Luca, all three of them, started talking and discussing at the same time. Discussing the apparently perfect plan to set him up with someone. With someone he doesn´t know. With someone he can´t like. Well, not in the romantic kind of way. 

His asking to stop, telling them he doesn´t want that, wants to get to know someone on his own, simply getting ignored or not even heard as they became louder and louder as an output of their enthusiasm. 

As it was kind of useless to try to stop them at the moment, his thoughts drifted away again. To a certain someone, a certain boy. Someone he couldn´t get out of his head for about a week now. 

Their meeting today, he still doesn´t know how he should feel about it. His feeling and emotions spinning in his head when he thinks about it, about Nico. The fact that he has never felt that comfortable around someone before. Ever. Not even  Gio  he guesses.  So  the whole thing, Nico, felt special. Like, really special. He felt so good and comfortable around him today and was simply... happy. 

And even if he doesn´t want it. Doesn´t planned it. He has to admit that he likes him. Really likes him. More than he probably should. 

It felt different than with every other  other  person, every other boy, before. Every stupid crush he had had in his life before. 

Nico might just be a boy he met on Bookstagram, a boy he met only once so far. But still, Marti has to admit it: He really, really likes him. And it feels different this time, maybe weird, in a good way, special, real.

He drifted back to reality, still hearing his friends playing matchmaker, talking  about  that girl he should like while the only thing, the only person, he can really think about in this kind of way right now was Nico. 

Damn, he´s fucked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Are you in love, Marti? Your eyes are shining." - hehehe yesss :D 
> 
> Yeyyy, it´s a new chapter, haha. Yeah, it took me some time as I was in a big writing blockade and hadn´t had the best time but hey, it´s heere now. Hope it´s not that bad :D  
> Would love to hear what you think of it in the comments and thanks for reading! <3


	6. The Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I went to the city,” he answered, sounding a bit insecure. Not sure if he wants to, should tell her about Nico. Yet. 
> 
> “By yourself?” 
> 
> And there it is. That question he doesn´t know how to answer. He doesn´t want to lie but still doesn´t want to talk about Nico. Keep this thing to himself. At least for now. 
> 
> He stopped mid-thought, asking himself about what thing he´s actually thinking about. There´s no thing. They´re just friends. Nothing more. Even if he might wish that. Well, he does. 
> 
> “No, I met a friend there,” he answered after a little while, looking down at his lap. 
> 
> “Giovanni?” 
> 
> “No, not Gio. A... a new friend,” he said, smiling a bit.

** -The Invitation- **

It  was  dark  outside b y  now. The streets empty, only  enlighted  by some streetlights. It was quiet. And Marti was walking through these streets, heading home from  Gio  again. 

Feeling a pleasant buzz. Lurching a bit. Not being drunk. But still, a little tipsy. 

The quietness and night being calming, a fresh breeze surrounding him. 

It was nearly 23:00 when he entered his apartment, taking his jacket and scarf, Nico´s scarf off, and putting it to the coatrack. He was about to enter the actual living space of their apartment before he turned back, grabbing the scarf, Nico´s scarf, from the coatrack again, taking it with him. 

As he was still hearing  noises  from the living room, most likely from one of the many series his mother watches, he went there before finally heading to his room, to his bed. 

“Ciao Mamma,” he greeted her, pulling her out of her trance, focused on the tv. 

“Ciao Marti!” she said while Martino went over to her, giving her a kiss to the cheek, sitting down next to her “I didn´t hear you coming back. Did you have a nice day?” she continued. 

A smile immediately appeared on his face, thinking about today. It was nice, he guesses one of the best days he had ever had. The afternoon with Niccolò was wonderful. He´d never felt that comfortable next to someone as he does with Nico. That´s not normal, at least not for him, an introvert, but that´s what made the  whol e thing, Nico, special. 

And the evening with his best friends was nice too as always. Well, mostly. A few beers (well, a few more than he had actually planned to drink), some rounds of FIFA and in general just having fun. And yes, he tries not to think that much about their attempts to play matchmaker for him, setting him up with some random girl he doesn´t know. And even if he would know her, he could never fall for her, he knows that. Well, what a pity he´s the only one, these are such moments he wishes he would be out of the closet but if he thinks about it rationally again and again, there are more point speaking for not telling his friends. He doesn´t want them to think differently of him, abandoning him.  So  he went with trying to talk the idea out the heads of his friends. And it actually worked after a while, they stopped, changing the topics, focusing on playing FIFA. At least for now. 

“Yes, I had a very nice day,” he finally answered his mom, smiling at her. 

She mirrored the smile on her son´s face, started to smile by herself. 

“That sounds great! Were you out with Giovanni?”

“Yeah we met at his place in the evening together with Elia and Luca, playing a few rounds of FIFA and talking a bit.”

“And in the afternoon? You left right after lunch,” she asked, curiosity coming through. 

It might sound as if she wants to interrogate him, he thought this all by himself once, but he knows better by now. She doesn´t want to question him, she´s just genuinely interested in her son´s life. And by now Marti really  appreciates  that. 

“I went to the city,” he answered, sounding a bit insecure. Not sure if he wants to, should tell her about Nico. Yet. 

“By yourself?”

And there it is. That question he doesn´t know how to answer. He doesn´t want to lie but still doesn´t want to talk about Nico. Keep this thing to himself. At least for now. 

He stopped mid-thought, asking himself about what  _ thing  _ he´s actually thinking about. There´s no  _ thing _ . They´re just friends. Nothing more. Even if he might wish that. Well, he does. 

“No, I met a friend there,” he answered after a little while, looking down at his lap. 

“Giovanni?”

“No, not  Gio . A... a new friend,” he said, smiling a bit. 

“So, a new friend? When am I going to meet him?” 

“What?” Marti asked astonished, letting out a snort.

“Well, if he´s a new friend of you, I would like to meet him. Or her of course,” she said, smiling at him. “Get to know the people you´re friends with, you know? You can invite him or her over every time you want”

“Him,” he said straight, a smile appearing on his face too. “And let´s see,  someday  maybe.”

Yes, some day maybe. He knows it´s stupid. That he´s most likely to fall for a straight boy again, has fallen for a straight boy but still, his heart won´t stop. Telling him to dream on, his thoughts about Nico not stopping.  So  yeah, some day. Maybe.

“Someday sounds good,” his mother sad, a big and warm smile on her lips.

Marti smiling back at her, both of them looking at each other for a while.

“Well, it´s kind of late already and you surely want to go to your room instead of hanging around with your mother at that time of the day”

“Well yes. But it doesn´t have to do anything with you and you know that!” he said, shooting her a knowing look, “I´m just kind of exhausted and really tired.”

“Don´t let me hold you back then. Good night, Marti,” she said before he pressed another kiss to his cheek. 

Marti was already on his way to leave the living room, heading to his, before he stopped in his track, turning around.

“Mamma? I love you”

“Marti! I love you too, so much!”

They smiled at each other, just doing that for a moment, before Marti actually headed to his bedroom. 

\---

It took him another while before he was actually ready for bed, needed to brush his teeth before that as he´s kind of fussy about that. 

And so it felt even better as he finally fell into bed. 

He was about to connect his phone to the charger as he saw that he had unread messages. Messages from Nico. He won´t admit it to anyone, never, but well, he has never opened  an  message faster in his life before. Ever. 

** Nico  ** ** Bookstagram **

_ Hope you arrived safely at your friend´s house!! _

_ Sorry for preoccupying you that long that you forgot the time  _

_ It was a really nice evening, Marti!  _ _ 😊 _ __

_ Did you take my scarf with you?? _

_ Yes _ _  I arrived there safely and don´t worry it wasn´t that much of a problem!! _

_ And  _ _ same _ _  here, I really enjoyed today  _ _ 😀 _ __

_ Yes _ _  I did!! I´m so sorry _

** Nico  ** ** Bookstagram **

_ Well I´m glad then _

_ And I guess we have to do it again then _

_ What? _

** Nico  ** ** Bookstagram **

_ Meeting up  _ _ 😀 _

_ Only for the sake of you giving me my scarf back  _ _ 😉 _

_ What do you say Marti? _

_ I´d love to!  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyy, this is actually the first time that I wrote a chapter that fast and without a few breakdowns, haha :D I wrote it in one sit, haha *proud*  
> I hope you like it and enjoyed reading <3   
> As always I´d love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3


	7. The Messages From No One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You should send her a dick pic,” Elia said. 
> 
> Marti´s thoughts get distracted by his friends this time, turning back to them and their conversation. 
> 
> “The fuck? What are you talking about?” he asked, an asking look on his face. 
> 
> “We´re talking about Silvia and Luchi, of course. Seems like you didn´t get anything as you were too occupied with someone else,” Elia answered. 
> 
> “Whom are you texting anyway?” Gio asked, looking at him, waiting for an answer. 
> 
> “No one,” instantly came out of his mouth. 
> 
> Damn it, Marti! Couldn´t you have come up with a better excuse?!

**-The** ~~**Letters** ~~ **Messages** **From** **No** **One** **-**  

As soon as Marti sat down next to Gio on their window sill, he literally felt all the stress leave his body as he exhaled. It felt like an eternity has passed since Martino entered the school on Monday morning. An eternity... which happened to be only four hours by now. Which means two more to go. Two more hours of having to pay attention, taking notes and just being present. When all he wants to do is to just fall into bed and, well, sleep a bit. Not that anyone would be there to be blamed for his miserable tired state. Well, or if you want to find someone to be blamed: Niccolò. Not that he did anything bad. No, never. The only thing he could be accused of is being so fucking charming and nice and not stopping texting with Marti. The whole Sunday. The whole night long. Till Marti looked at the clock and saw that it was already after midnight and Monday again.  

And well, that´s the reason why he´s now sitting there, at the verge of falling asleep every second whilst his friends next to him are chatting loudly and enthusiastically about something he hasn´t got till now.  

“But have you seen her today? She´s so pretty today,” Luca said with a dreaming look on his face.  

Ah. Silvia. He doesn´t even has to mention her name and Marti already knew who the “pretty girl” was his friend was talking about. It´s no secret. Really, no secret at all. Everyone, really, everyone knew about Luchino´s crush on Silvia by now. Even Silvia herself. Which made the whole situation for Luca even worse.  

Gio, Elia and especially Luca were so deepened in their chat about Silvia and how Luca should hit on her that they don´t really notice Marti being absent and not at all being involved in their discussion.  

So he uses the situation to check his phone, only to see that there was a new message from Nico.  

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _Sorry for occupying you that long last night_ _😕_  

 

 _I didn´t look at the time as it was so nice chatting with you_  

 

As it was so nice chatting with you. Martino´s heart skipped a beat as he read this. Damn, this boy... 

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _Really, I would want to rob your good_ _night's_ _rest and beauty sleep from you_ _😉_  

 

Marti took a moment to process the message he had just got, grinning like an idiot down at his phone. Nico really made him forget everything and everyone around him, his friends, their conversation, the noises of the school corridor, everything. Make him forget time, his inner struggles and having to play a role for everyone around him for a bit. And it felt good, really good. Just him being at ease around Nico or whilst chatting with him about everything and nothing, having fun. 

 

 _Beauty sleep?_  

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _Of course!_  

 

 _Your good looks must come from somewhere, Marti_ _😉_  

 

 _Good genes, yes, but definitely beauty sleep too_  

 

 _Oh_ _shut up!_  

 

 _Shut_ _up!_ , he wrote, yes, but he doesn´t mean it like that. No, not at all. Not to sound narcistic or anything, he´s the last person to be this, but getting complimented actually felt good. Especially if the compliments are coming from the person you like. Really like.  

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _Marti_ _Marti_ _, do not become immediately out of place_ _😉_  

 

 _I mean it like that, really_  

 

 _You do look good_  

 

Okay, now he´s freaking out. Only on the inside of course, not showing anything. Only his hands getting sweaty and the smile that appeared on his lips being an indication that something was happening inside of him right now. Something happening to his heart. That beat a little, well maybe a bit more than little, faster that usual right now. For about a minute, or maybe two, he did nothing than starring at the display of his phone, his mind racing, trying to come up with a fitting reply to Nico´s message. Instantly stopping as his phone beeped again, Nico answering before him.  

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _The perfect condition to impress girls at the first sight, right?_  

 

And there it was again.  _That_ topic. The one he tried to escape as often as it worked. The one topic he hasn´t talked with Niccolò about so far, which felt good, make him feel like he didn´t have to put his mask on around him. At least not till now. But well, here it was.  _That_ topic. _Girls, girls, girls, girls._  

He prepared himself to play a role around Nico right now too, putting his mask on, about to type a reply that would fit into the heterosexual picture. But once again Nico was faster and sent him another message. 

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _But well, you don´t need_ _to_ _of course_  

 _You get me?_  

 _Looking good only for oneself is great too_  

 _For anyone else too ofc_  

 _Like, anyone_  

 _Shit Marti, I´m rambling, I´m sorry_  

 _But you know, it doesn’t have to be a girl, it could be anyone else too, right?_  

 _Do you get me?_  

 

Reading these messages, Nico rambling, really made him smile again, being relieved. Really relieved. Putting his mask away again, saving the farce for someone else.  

 

_Right, it doesn´t have to be a girl_

_I get you_

After he hit sent it suddenly hit him: These messages, the first one especially, are the closest thing to a coming out he´s ever said or wrote.  

 _It doesn´t have to be a girl._  

Marti couldn´t deny it, really, the thought about coming out to certain people, telling them that he likes guys, freaks him out. He can´t really put the worst-case scenario out of his head. His friends abandoning him, not wanting to be friends with him anymore, his mom kicking him out, literally everyone talking or thinking differently and bad about him.  

But still, writing these seven words to Nico felt good. And he didn´t feel anxious or scared about it and Niccolò´s anwer.  

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _Well then, great that we´ve clarified this, Marti_  

 _Anyways, other topic: Have you seen the news of more Harry Potter books getting published?_  

 

“You should send her a dick pic,” Elia said.  

Marti´s thoughts get distracted by his friends this time, turning back to them and their conversation. 

“The fuck? What are you talking about?” he asked, an asking look on his face.  

“We´re talking about Silvia and Luchi, of course. Seems like you didn´t get anything as you were too occupied with someone else,” Elia answered.  

“Whom are you texting anyway?” Gio asked, looking at him, waiting for an answer.  

“No one,” instantly came out of his mouth.  

 _Damn it_ , Marti! Couldn´t you have come up with a better excuse?! 

“No one? Oh come on, Marti, you can´t fool me, I´m your best friend!” 

“If it´s no one, you can show us your phone, right?” Elia threw in, reaching for Marti´s phone, trying to grab it. But Marti was fast enough to keep it away. 

“Come on guys, stop it. It´s no one important”” 

“No one important? I might be small but I´m not dumb,” Luca butted in this time.  

“Let me guess, this no one is the reason you didn´t want to get coupled from us? At least show us a picture from her,” Gio now said.  

Her, her, her, her, her. 

“There´s no one guys and now leave me alone with it!” 

“As if Marti, as if,” Elia said, earning a from from Martino as an answer.  

But still, his friend didn´t stop talking about it.  

“I have to go to the toilet,” Marti suddenly said, as he got up and grabbed his bag, nearly running away. 

As he arrived at the bathroom, he locked himself in one of the stalls. Breathing in and out. One time. Two times. Before he took his phone out of his pocket, looking at it. Still seeing Nico´s Harry Potter message there, unanswered.  

 

_Why am I even wondering that you write me such things, Mr. Harry Potter fanboy number 1?_

 

 **Nico** **Bookstagram**  

 _Well, I don´t know_ _😉_  

 

And a few moments later he got a notification from Instagram 

 _nicoissurroundedbymuggles_ _just uploaded a new post_  

He couldn´t help and clicked on it immediately. One of the photos of Nico balancing a book at his head back at their meet up appeared on his screen. Nico smiling brightly at the camera, putting a smile on Marti´s lips.  

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles**  OMG guys did you heard it?!?! New Harry Potter books coming up!!! Who´s as excited as I am? I´m curious to read what you think of it, would be great to talk about it in the comments a bit 😊 

Also, thank you  _@_ _martislibrary_  for taking this pic, I love it  

 

 **martislibrary:** No need to thank me, you´re welcome 😀 

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles:**   _@_ _martislibrary_  and Marti, what do you think about the new hp novels? 

 **martislibrary:** @ _nicoissurroundedbymuggles_ do you really want to know that? 

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles:**   _@_ _martislibrary_  Maybe not Marti 

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles:** _@_ _martislibrary_  *Marti the Slytherin ofc 

 

He couldn´t help, a laugh escaped him, thinking about their little inside joke.  _Theirs_. Gosh, his heart.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyy, new chapter :D  
> Oh Marti <3  
> I really hope you like it, as always, would like to hear what you think of it in the comments <33


	8. The Midnight Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The soft sounds of the piano filled his room and made their way directly to Marti´s heart. 
> 
> Note by note. 
> 
> The sound of Nico playing the piano, a gentle piece, makes his heart beat faster, beating happily. 
> 
> And the image, watching this boy sitting behind the instrument, his hands roaming over the piano keys, face focused, absorbed in the music he´s playing. 
> 
> This image, Nico playing the piano, it did something to Marti. To his heart.

** -The Midnight  ** ~~** Duell ** ~~ **  Call- **

The feeling of coming home after a long day of school,  a  day you´ve been exhausted from the second you woke up till now. The feeling of coming home, the feeling of taking off your shoes and jacket, putting your backpack down, the loss of weight off your shoulders which feels like a relief. Simply the feeling of coming home, the place you feel the most comfortable at. 

He was tired, so tired. Having relented when  Gio , Luca and Elia tried to convince him to join them at the  Baretto  to get some studying done.  _ Studying _ . Which ended up in various rounds of table football. 

His plan to go home straight after  school  was cancelled and so he only came home now, around 6pm, even more exhausted as before thanks to having to try to beat  Gio  and Luca at  table  soccer. He couldn´t help it. It´s essential to do so!

“Mamma?” Marti shouted int their apartment, wanting to know if his mother was home. 

“In the living room!” came a reply almost immediately. 

“Hey,” Marti greeted her as he entered the living room, pressing a kiss to her cheek after sitting down next to her on the couch. A smile appearing on her face. 

“How was your day, honey?”

“It was  okay  I guess. A bit exhausting but well, nothing major. I was just a bit tired.”

He put his phone and keys down on the little table in front of them, making a mental note to himself to take them back with him to his room later. 

“Tired? Did you stay awake till late?”

Marti immediately had to think back to his and Nico´s conversation last night that lasted till the morning. Yeah, he definitely stayed up late. But it was worth it. 

“Maybe,” he answered while a grin appeared on his face. 

“I see, I see.  So  no pity from me,” his mom answered, a grin appearing on her face too. Only short, as she came back to another topic afterwards. 

“But apart from that: Are you hungry? I made some pasta salad, there´s still some in the fridge.”

“I´m starving!” he answered, not  exaggerating  at all. Well okay, maybe a little. But only a little of course. 

“Help yourself then,” she answered with a laugh while Martino got up and went to the kitchen.

Taking a plate  out  of the cupboard and filling it with a loading of the pasta salad. A big one. Cause nothing, literally nothing, can beat the pasta salad of his mom, it´s the best. 

“Is it okay if I take this back to my room?” he asked as he was back in the living area.

“Of course!”

They exchanged a last smile before Martino went to his room, literally collapsing into bed, his food next to him. Before finally starting to eat he took his laptop from his desk, opening YouTube and clicking on some random video on his explore page. 

As Marti finally started eating and falling back into his pillows, he could actually feel the relaxation wash over him. His body starting to calm down and relax. His hunger disappearing. 

Suddenly, out of the blue, he was there again. On his mind, a mental image in front of his eyes. Bright smile, shiny eyes, beautiful hair. Niccolò.

He doesn´t know what and why he´s doing that, but he finds himself typing Nico´s name in the  search bar  on the opened YouTube page in front of him.

_ Niccolò Fares.  _

Marti didn´t reckon to find anything here. Really, not at all. 

 And so he got really surprised when he found that video, with Niccolò on the thumbnail, sitting behind a piano. 

_ Occupy2017  _ _ i _ _  concerti  _ _ all´alba _ _  del fares _

There was nothing holding him back as he immediately clicked on the video, starting to watch it. 

The soft sounds of the piano filled his room and made their way directly to Marti´s heart. 

Note by note. 

The sound of Nico playing the piano, a gentle piece, makes his heart beat faster, beating happily.

And the image, watching this boy sitting behind the instrument, his hands roaming over the piano keys, face focused, absorbed in the music he´s playing. 

This image, Nico playing the piano, it did something to Marti. To his heart. 

On a rational level he was impressed by Nico´s musical skills, yes. He himself would never be able to play an instrument like that, the way Niccolò played the piano. 

On the other hand, on an emotional level, this video made him fall even more for him. The boy on the screen in front of him. Niccolò. 

Damn it, yes, he fell for Niccolò. 

This boy. This boy he doesn´t know for that long. This boy he met over social media. But still, this boy who is one of the persons he feels the most comfortable around. This boy he has the feeling he  would n´t have to hide his true self whilst being around him.  _ This boy who stole his heart.  _

The video was finished by now and he closed his laptop and put it aside. A sigh escaped him. And then he finished his pasta salad. Acting as if nothing has happened, on the outside at least. 

On the inside it looked differently. Really differently. 

His heart was beating, his mind was racing, all his thoughts wrapping around Niccolò.

_ Niccolò, Niccolò, Niccolò. _

His thoughts even went that far that he could suddenly hear Nico´s voice everywhere, even in his apartment, in front of the door to his bedroom. And it felt so real. Too real. 

And as he heard his mother say something in the hall in front of his room and Nico´s laughter as an answer it suddenly hit him. 

“Mom? Do you have my phone?!” he shouted, his mom entering his room in the exact same moment. 

“Marti! You left your phone in the living room”

And there it was again: Nico´s laugh coming from his phone. 

_ Shit  _ _ shit _ __ _ shit _ __ _ shit _ __ _ shit _ _. _

“Mamma! You can´t just answer my phone!”

“Come on, it´s not so bad! What should I have done instead? Just keeping it ringing? No way!”

“Yes!” Marti butted in at the same time as his mom finished her sentence. 

“Now give it to me!” he continued while he took  his  phone from his mother's hands, pressing it to his chest. Hearing Nico´s laughs even louder and clearer now. 

“And now out  out  out!” he said as he pushed his mom out of his room. Gently of course, a smile on his lips. Which got wider as he saw his mom was smiling too. 

“Bye Marti. Have fun phoning,” she said before she actually left, closing the door behind her. 

Martino inhaled deeply and exhaled loud afterwards, before he sat down on his bed again, pressing the phone to his ear. 

“Ciao.”

“Ciao Marti!” Nico said and Marti was basically able to hear his grin through the phone. 

“Come on, stop grinning! I can literally hear that through the phone!” Marti responded before he  buried  his face in his pillow, letting out a groan. 

A loud laugh escaped Nico´s mouth. 

“It´s not that bad, Marti! We just talked one or two minutes. She´s nice.”

“I know that she´s nice but still.”

“I´m glad you  have  such a good relationship with your mom. At least it seems like that from what you´ve told me.”

“We do. At least I would say that it´s like that. Yes, it wasn´t  always  easy and sometimes it can be hard when she has her lows and depressive episodes but she´s still my mom and I love her so much,” Marti said, a soft smile on his face. 

“That´s nice. Really, it sounds great.”

“It is. How´s your relationship with your parents?”

“Quite good too I´d say. Yes, we do have our ups and downs too and there´s some time I can´t stand them but overall, I do really love them too,” Nico said.

“That´s nice,” Marti answered with the same words as Nico did before, a smile on his lips.

And  so  they fell into their usual chatty banter. Talking about this and that. Books, social media, school, their friends and family, sharing stories from their childhood. Talking about nothing and everything at once. Laughing, laughing so much. Martino couldn´t think back to a time where he felt at ease like that with someone, just being happy and laughing all the time whilst chatting. 

It felt like no time was passing at all, like they just have started talking to each other, still having so much to talk about. 

But when Marti took a look at the clock it hit him. It was already after 11pm. 

Shit. Once again. 

“Nico?”

“Mhm?”

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Wait a moment... Oh shit! I´m sorry, Marti!”

“Sorry? Why?”

“Well... I kept you awake again. And I know you need your beauty sleep,” Nico spoke and Marti was sure that there was a grin on his lips again. By now he was able to hear this even if it´s only over the phone. 

“Oh come on, fuck off with your beauty sleep, what´s up with you and that topic?!”

“Nothing Marti, nothing. I just think that you´re good looking and that you need your beauty sleep to keep that.”

And then it was silent between the two. 

Nobody said something, the only thing you could hear was their unregular breathing. 

And Marti blushed. He couldn´t help but his cheeks turned bright pink, maybe even red, and his gaze turned down to his lap. 

Right  now  he was really glad that Nico couldn´t see him and that they were only talking over the phone. Really glad. 

“Well, don´t get me wrong, not that you wouldn´t be handsome without getting sleep, I´m sure about that, but well, I just think that it´s... well, I mean... do you get me?” Nico said, stuttering a bit. 

He stopped after that sentence, breathing out loudly.

“Doesn´t matter, just forget it. I´m rambling  nonsense  again, don´t ask me what´s up with that today,” he continued afterwards. 

“Don´t worry,” Marti said, trying to appear calm, trying to not seem affected by Nico´s comments, him literally complimenting him and calling him handsome twice. He really tries. Which might not work the best as, on the inside, he´s everything but calm and relaxed. Really, everything. His heart was beating too fast again and his thoughts were wrapping around what Niccolò just told him. 

_ I just think that you´re good looking. Good looking, good looking, good looking.  _

_ Handsome. _

Silence set in between the two of them again, no one being able or brave enough to say something right now. Not knowing what to say at all. 

After about a minute, which felt like years, an eternity, not only a simple  minute , Nico broke the silence. 

“But now to another important topic before we should possibly stop talking for today: Is there any afternoon you´re free this week?”

“Huh?”

“For another meeting, Marti! You said you want to repeat that too, right?”

A wide smile immediately appeared on Marti´s face, thinking about the fact that Nico really would like to meet him again.

“Yes!” he answered, probably a bit too fast and enthusiastic. 

“ Of course  I want to!” he continued, a bit more settled this time. 

“Great Marti! So, when are you free?”

Marti took a moment to think about it, trying to call his schedule into his mind. 

“What about Wednesday afternoon? After school? I should be free then.”

“Wednesday sounds great! I don´t have anything planned there too.”

“So, Wednesday it is?” Marti asked. 

“It is,” Nico simply answered. 

Martino turned silent again and smiled brightly to himself. 

He´s going to meet Nico again. In only two days. And Nico was the one who got it on, he wants to meet him too. 

“Any  idea  where we could meet this time? Or what about talking about the details tomorrow via messages?”

“Sounds good!” Marti said, still smiling and unable to get the smile off his face. He´s just too...  _ happy _ . 

“Well then, I guess we should literally stop talking now. Not that I want to but for the sake of it not getting out of control like it did yesterday or should I say this morning?”

Marti had to grin at Nico´s words. 

“Oh, and for the sake of you getting your beauty sleep of course. Sorry, I just had to mention it again,” Nico said, followed by a laugh. 

“Once again: Shut up, Nico!”

“Come on, Marti, it´s funny! I don´t mean anything bad!”

“Yeah  yeah yeah , for sure!”

“Really, Marti! You should see me now, I just put my hands up in  defence . I really mean it!”

“Still not sure if I should believe you,” Martino responded, laughing afterwards.

Silence settled in again, not awkward or unpleasant, but a comfortable one. 

“Well then, we should really stop that call now and go to bed, I guess it´s about time. And we´re going to hear from each other tomorrow and plan our meeting?” Nico asked. 

“Sounds good,” Marti answered. 

“Sleep well, Marti”

“You too!”

“Can´t wait to see you again,” Nico said with this soft voice of his.

“Me neither,” Marti answered. 

“Good night, Marti.”

And with this the call ended. 

As Marti took the phone away from his ear and looked at the display, it hit him. 

_ 5:04:34 _

They talked for five hours. 

And the clock said 11:56pm. Nearly midnight. 

It didn´t feel that long, not at all. 

He never talked to someone on the phone for that long. Simply because of the fact that there isn´t a person he could talk to for five hours without getting bored or running out of topics to talk about. Not with him. Not with Nico.

Yes, he knew it before that phone call, but now there´s no way at all to deny this anymore. 

_ He´s in love with Niccolò.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we have the next chapter, wuhu :D   
> Marti is in looove <3 And yes, new meet up coming soon, yayyy haha :D  
> I hope you liked the chapter and thank you for reading it! I would love to hear what you think of it in a comment <3


	9. The Keeper Of The Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey,” Nico said, touching Marti´s arm slightly, “what do you think about getting some ice cream?” 
> 
> “Ice cream? Now?” Marti asked as an answer, looking astonished at Nico. 
> 
> “Yes! Ice cream. Now. Why do you sound so bewildered? As if I just proposed to take a spontaneous backpacking trip through Norway or something like that!” 
> 
> “It´s October, why do you want some ice cream now?” 
> 
> “So boring, Marti! There´s never a bad time for some ice cream. Who cares about the month? Ice cream is great! And even if, it´s a nice and warm day so nothing better than that on a day like this!”

** -The Keeper ** **  Of  ** ** The ** **** ~~** Keys ** ~~ **  Se ** ** c ** ** rets- **

** Nico  ** ** Bookstagram **

_ Sorry my bus was delayed. I´ll be there in about 5 minutes.  _

Marti stood there, at their arranged meeting point and looked down at his phone, reading Nico´s message. The whole thing felt like a throwback to their first meeting. Well, kind of at least. He was nervous as he was the first time, yes, but this kind of nervous felt... different. More positive. Full of anticipation for their meet up. Knowing that it will most likely be wonderful again, knowing that he feels good with Nico together. Really good. 

His heart skipped a beat as he saw Nico´s head pop up around the corner, a wide smile appearing on his face. A smile Martino couldn´t help but had to mirror it. Wide and bright. Honest. He was happy.  Happy  to see Nico again. 

“Hey Marti!” Nico said as he finally approached him and pulled Marti into a tight hug immediately. His arms embracing his shoulders, his hands resting on Martino´s shoulder blades, caressing them a bit. 

Marti shouldn´t be wondering anymore about his reaction to Niccolò, his body´s reaction to him. But still, it feels as if his heart would stop beating being this close to Nico and his head and  though ts  were spinning, didn´t stop thinking about the fact that the person he fell for is hugging him this close.

“Ciao Nico!” he finally greeted him back as they moved apart after what felt like an eternity, trying to calm down and bring his thoughts back in order. Which didn´t work as good as he hoped for as Nico, even after their hug, stood this close to him, their arms brushing each other's. 

“How are you doing?” Nico asked, grinning at Marti, “you seem well rested,” his grin became even wider. 

Marti had to think back to yesterday night, texting with Nico again, as most of the nights since they met on  Bookstagram . Chatting with Nico was fun, really, he loved it. But it had one downside: Him nearly getting any sleep at all.  Last night, even if he didn´t want to at all, he told Nico that he really needs some sleep, at least  once, as  much as he loves texting with him. Which ended up with Nico teasing him about the whole beauty sleep thing again but still, Marti actually went to sleep before midnight. It´s a win.

“ Wanna  find a place to sit down?” Nico asked him, both of them still standing at the place they met. 

“Sounds good!” Marti answered and the both of them went strolling through Rome´s streets, searching for a nice place to sit down and relax a bit. The city was filled with people, couples, families, groups of friends, single people on their own, all of them living in their own world, talking to each other, being on the phone, listening to music, simply strolling through the streets.  And him and Nico were right among them. Walking through the city streets. Nothing special about them, nobody paying attention to them. Just two friends in the middle of the big city called Rome. 

It took them about 15 minutes, 15 minutes filled with talking and laughter, till Nico stopped their walk, asking Marti if he wants to sit down at the Spanish Steps. They searched for some free space and sat down when they found some. They arranged themselves, made themselves comfortable. The chatter of all those people around them and the sound of the living drift of Rome on an afternoon surrounded them. 

“Tell me, how are you doing?” Nico asked, looking with his bright signature smile at Marti.

“Hm, I´m  fine  I guess.”

“You guess?” 

“ Yes  I do. But yes, fine. I´m doing fine,” Marti said, smiling back at Nico. “And you?”

“The last days weren´t the best but it´s better now.”

“Not the best? What happened?” Marti asked, immediately worrying a bit. 

“Nothing special, there were just a few things going on. But I´m doing better now,” Nico responded, smiling slightly. 

Marti smiled back, not asking further anymore.

“Added to this  uni  was stressing me out too with the new semester to start soon,” he continued, laughing a bit. 

“Damn Nico, we´ve talked about me and school all the time and I´ve never thought about asking you what you´re studying!” Marti tossed in, feeling bad for it. “What are you studying?”

“I´m studying music theory in the third semester now and I really like it. The people in my university courses are great and the professors too, they do really know what they´re talking about and the lectures with them are really fun. It´s the best study I could have chosen for myself.”

Marti had to smile whilst listening to Nico, him talking so happily and excited about  university  and his study. This makes himself happy too. 

“I don´t know if I´ve already told you that but I play the piano since 10 years now and since I had my first lesson I fell in love with it, the instrument, and music in general and I already knew back than that I want to do something with music later in my life. It helped me through so many rough and bad times in my life and I would love to help people too, you understand? Maybe something like music therapy, let´s see. By now I´m still stuck with music theory, but music therapy is definitely an option!”

No, Nico hadn´t told him that he plays the piano. But he still knows it. Thinking back to the video he found on YouTube, the video of Nico playing the piano. This masterpiece. 

“This does really sound great, Nico! I mean it! I´m happy you found something that makes you this happy and enthusiastic. And music therapy sounds nice!”

“Yeah, I´m really happy too. Even if it was kind of a ride, trying to convince my parents that music theory is the right thing for me and a good major, even if it´s not something “useful and properly to study for your future life”. But after a few discussions it worked out and they see how happy it makes me so we´re good now about it.”

 “Well then. And the most important thing is still that you feel good with what you do and that it´s not only pleasing other people,” Marti said, smiling at Nico. Him smiling back,  gratitude  laying in his gaze. 

“ And now enough about me.  What about you?  Tell me, a nything interesting going on in your life? Anything important to tell?”

Marti looked  down,  a self-pitying smile formed on his lips. Thinking about all the things going on in his life. He has a wonderful relationship with his mother and loves her so much, a great group of friends  that  he likes so much and loves hanging out with, Gio is a wonderful best friend, his grades are good. Yes, he knows that he shouldn´t complain, that there are people out there who have it much worse than him. But still, there´s one thing missing: Being his true self. Not having to hide a part of himself. Playing a role for his friends, the people around him, wearing a mask to hide his true self. Marti always thought and got the feeling that it´s not that hard and bad to hide, hide his sexuality. Pretend to like girls, talk about them with his friends, about how beautiful they were. He was more afraid of the reaction of people close to him to his coming out, their reaction to knowing the whole Marti, the real Marti. But since he met Nico, he got the feeling that he can´t hold back anymore. Everything piling up inside of him, ready to explode. Martino has thought about this for days now, at night when he should have been asleep. He doesn´t want to hold back and hide anymore. He looked up again, at the  Fontana  della Barcaccia  opposite to them and took a deep breath before he turned and looked at Nico. And then he threw his mask off. 

“I like guys,” Marti blurted out.

He looked directly in Nico´s eyes, them not giving away anything. No negative reaction so far but still, also no positive one. His anxiety coming up immediately, thinking about why he has done that, coming out so suddenly. But despite all those worries, something inside of him tells him to go on. 

“I... I... I´m gay.”

 And suddenly it went silent, he felt like everything around him stopped moving, the sound of chatter around him getting quieter and quieter till they went completely silent. It feels like time stood still. 

And then Niccolò looked back at him and a soft smile arose on his lips. 

“That´s great, Marti!”

And with that the world started spinning around Marti again and all the sounds came back. 

“Well not great but... Oh gosh no, don´t get me wrong! It´s great! It´s just normal, love is love you know?”

Marti had to laugh at Nico´s words.  A n  honest, loud laugh. 

And suddenly he realised what he just did. That he just came out to the first person ever, for the first time ever. And it felt... good. Relieving. 

“Yes, I think I get what you mean.”

“I´m proud of you, Marti, really proud. For telling me. You´re wonderful, Marti!” Nico said, a wide smile on his face. 

Marti had to blush at his words, looking down at his lap again. 

“Hey,” Nico said, touching Marti´s arm slightly, “what do you think about getting some ice cream?”

“Ice cream? Now?” Marti asked as an answer, looking astonished at Nico. 

“Yes! Ice cream. Now. Why do you sound so bewildered? As if I just proposed to take a spontaneous backpacking trip through Norway or something like that!”

“It´s October, why do you want some ice cream now?”

“So boring, Marti! There´s never a bad time for some ice cream. Who cares about the month? Ice cream is great! And even if, it´s a nice and warm day so nothing better than that on a day like this!” 

“Well... If you insist on it,” Marti said, trying to sound annoyed. Even if he thinks that an ice cream wouldn´t be a bad idea by now. After the events of today.

“I do!” Nico exclaimed, already grabbing Marti by his arm, pulling him to his feet and dragging him to the next gelateria close to them.

\------

“Honestly? Seems like not only your last name is weird. Like, who picks these ice cream flavours?” Marti asked as him and Niccolò sat down on a parc bench next to the gelateria they just bought some ice cream at. 

“Well, better weird than boring, Marti,” Nico said, looking at Martino challenging. 

Marti looked down at the cornet in his hand, filled with chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Yeah, definitely better this way than any of the exotic flavours Nico chose. 

“No really, who one this world picks pineapple-coconut-mint and basil ice cream? You´re weird, Niccolò Fares. Really weird.”

“Stop it Marti, you´re offending me and my  excellent  taste in ice cream. You´re cruel!”

“Here you have it, I´m a true Slytherin!”

“My, my! Now it´s you who just came back to the Harry Potter topic,” Nico said, grinning at him. 

“I just had to prove a point,” Marti mumbled before he continued eating his ice cream. 

“I see, I see,” Nico continued, his grin still on his lips, not having faded even a little bit.  “Anyway, whom do you like? Who´s your type?” he continued. 

“Huh? My what?” Marti asked, looking confused at Nico. 

“Oh, come on Marti! Your type in boys. Now that you´re out and proud around me you can talk to me about it. Only if  you  want to and feel comfortable with it of course.”

_ You _ . Marti was tempted to say this, tell Nico that he likes him more than just as a friend. Tell him that he´s the most beautiful boy he has ever seen. But one confession is enough for one day, he doesn´t want to overdo it. 

“What about him?” Nico suddenly asked, bringing Marti back to reality. 

He was pointing to a guy in front of them, walking his dog. Blonde hair, broad shoulders, very  ripped .

“Too musculus.”

“I see, I see. Hmm...,” Nico continued, looking around the parc they were sitting in. “And what about him?” Nico pointed to another guy, or let´s say boy, as he seemed so young. 

“Really Nico? He´s at least 4 years younger than me, still a kid!”

“As if, Marti! He´s never 13, at least your age!”

“My age?! You  wanna  tell me that this boy is 17? Never!”

“Okay, okay, I get it. And what about the guy laying in the grass opposite of us?”

Marti looked to where Niccolò was pointing at and saw a guy relaxing in the sun, laying on his back. The thing about him that  immediately  catches his attention was his hair. Dark black, curly. It suspiciously reminded him of Nico. 

“He´s okay I guess.”

_ But he has nothing on you _ , he continued the sentence but only in his thoughts. 

“Come on, Marti, he looks good, doesn´t he? You just seem to be too picky,” Nico said, grinning. 

“Too picky? I´m not picky. I´m just not throwing myself at everyone immediately,” Martino told, trying to sound offended. 

Well, the reason for that  _ might  _ be the fact that he´s actually still in the closet. At least around everyone but Nico. So not possible to just start openly fancying a guy or flirting with him. 

“And even if, it´s okay, Marti! To have high standards I mean. You deserve someone amazing who really, really loves  you. ”

And then it went silent between the two again, both of them starring each other in the eyes, not saying anything. A little smile appeared in Marti´s lips, a smile that Nico mirrored, just wider and brighter. The typical Nico-smile he loves so much. Marti could feel his heart beating unnaturally fast, doesn´t know what´s going on between him and Nico right now.

Suddenly he felt something cold and sticky running down the back of his hand. As he looked  down  he saw that it was his ice cream which melted, running down his hand now. He totally forgot about it. He doesn´t know how he managed this but in the process of cleaning himself he managed to get even closer to Nico and as he looked up at him, he saw that there was a stain on his white T-shirt. A brown stain, that could only come from his chocolate ice cream. 

_ Fuck! _

“Fuck, Nico, I´m sorry!” Marti said in panic, pulling a tissue out of his bag and tried to get the stain off Niccolò´s shirt. In the process of trying so he only made it worse, spreading the stain even more. 

“Shit, I´m so sorry!” he said again, thinking about another solution what to do now.

“Marti!” Nico said, “Hey, Marti!” Nico grabbed Marti´s hands and stopped him from panicking. “It´s okay! There are things that are much worse!”

“What should I do now?” Marti asked, still close to  panicking . 

“What about moving the meeting to me? I can wash out the stain and change? And stay at my apartment then?” Nico asked. 

“Yeah, sounds great. And sorry again.”

“Don´t worry, Marti, really! It´s okay!”

Marti exhaled deeply, nodding a little. 

Nico stood up and put his hand out to Marti. 

“Come on, let´s go!”

Marti grabbed the hand Nico offered and Nico pulled him to his feet and dragged Marti behind him. 

“Let´s go to the Casa Fares!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter aaand here it is, the next meet up, hehe :D   
> And a round of applause for Marti for being that brave and coming out, this can be hard <3  
> I really hope that you liked the chapter and had fun reading it. I would love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3


	10. The Fares House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You´re starring at me.” 
> 
> He doesn´t know why he said it, doesn´t know why he called Niccolò out on it. It just happened. 
> 
> “I am,” Nico answered. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn´t deny it. He just simply said it like that. 
> 
> “Why?” Marti asked, his voice turned quiet. 
> 
> “It´s nice. It´s nice watching you. You´re nice.” 
> 
> And with that Marti´s heart stopped beating. At least it felt like that. But it definitely skipped a beat at least. Or maybe two. 
> 
> “Oh.”

** -The  ** ~~** Riddle ** **** ~~ ** Fares ** **  House- **

“Hello?  Someone there ?” Nico  shouted into his apar tment  as soon as he entered it. No one answered. 

“No one there – great. Come in, Marti!” he said and stepped aside to  signal  Marti to come in. 

“Welcome to the  C asa Fares!” 

There was one thing that  instantly  came to Marti´s mind as soon as he entered the apartment. It was huge. Really huge. 

As he went further in, he realised the interior and decorations. Shelves everywhere, a big brown leather couch in the middle of the living room, pictures and paintings on the walls, a piano in a corner somewhere and books. So many books. 

And then he saw something, something really familiar. 

“Ah, so this is the famous bookshelf of nicoissurroundedbymuggles, huh?” Marti asked, a cheeky grin on his lips. 

“Is it famous? I am famous?” Nico answered, putting another question in the room. 

“Hm, let me think. The bookshelf is definitely famous, your followers love the posts with the shelf. But you, hm, I´m not really sure about that.”

“If the bookshelf is famous I´m definitely famous too, Marti!” Nico said, trying to sound offended, “and I see,” he continued, “you know exactly which posts people seem to like on my account. Are you stalking me or what?”

Marti really tried not to, but he felt a blush spreading on his cheeks as he thought back to all the times he scrolled through Nico´s account over and over again, looking at his pictures. 

“I don´t!” he said, trying to sound convincing, but immediately felt that he failed. 

“I see, I see,” Nico said, a cocky grin spreading on his face which made Marti´s cheeks turn even more red. To him it felt like they must be dark red by now. 

They starred in each other's eyes for some times, most likely only seconds, which  nevertheless  felt like an eternity. 

“ Wanna  sit down on the couch?” Nico asked and finally broke the silence between them, “I think it´s more comfortable than just standing here, even if it´s in front of  _ the  _ famous bookshelf.”

“Sounds good. Not to be rude and abandon the bookshelf but sitting sounds nice.”

“I think it will handle it,” Nico said, grinning again, before sitting down on the couch, indicating to Martino to sit down next to him. 

Who does  it.  Their  arms  brushing each other´s briefly. A short touch which still sent some shivers down Marti´s spine. 

It went silent for a bit, Marti deliberately trying not to look at Nico, his gaze wandering through the room, looking at the whole apartment again. And still catching Nico´s look, Nico starring at him. 

“You´re starring at me.”

He doesn´t know why he said it, doesn´t know why he called Niccolò out on it. It just happened. 

 “I am,” Nico answered. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn´t deny it. He just simply said it like that. 

“Why?” Marti asked, his voice turned quiet. 

“It´s nice. It´s nice watching you. You´re nice.”

And with that Marti´s heart stopped beating. At least it felt like that. But it definitely skipped a beat at least. Or maybe two. 

“Oh.”

They were just starring at each other, Marti´s gaze wandering down to Nico´s lips. Nico´s beautiful lips. As he looked away again, back up at Niccolò´s eyes he saw that Nico did the same as he did before. Starring at his lips. A slight smile on his lips. 

Marti could feel that something was up, that the air changed between them. 

As Nico looked him in the eyes again, it felt like an explosion inside of his body, his heart. 

“Yes.  _ Oh _ ,” Nico said, approached him closer, sitting directly next to him on the couch now, their sides completely touching now. 

 And suddenly the doorbell rang. Marti getting thrown out of the little, light bubble he was in. Immediately questioning if the last minutes really happened or if it was his imagination playing him. 

“I´m sorry!” Nico said as he got up and went to the door, opening it. 

It didn´t took him long to get back to the couch, next to Marti, a little package in his hand. 

“ Bookmail !” 

“What did you order?” Martino asked, trying so sound cool and settled whilst there still was a chaos of emotions inside of him. 

“Wait and be amazed, Marti!” Nico said, his voice having a cheeky and amused undertone, as he started  to unbox  the book. 

As he was done, Marti actually wondered why he was asking which book he  ordered . 

On the opposite of him Nico sat, a wide grin on his face, presenting him the book in his hand. 

_ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban _ . The Ravenclaw pride edition. 

He already saw these special editions of the books all over  Bookstagram  since the first one was released. Annoyed by it and wondering how much money the publishers want to make with Harry Potter.

“Oh wow, really Nico?”

“Yes, damn real, Marti!”

“Don´t you already own, I don´t know, three editions of the whole series?”

“I do, Marti. But I need to show my pride, you know? My Ravenclaw pride.”

“Oh, so do you store any Ravenclaw scarfs or whatever in your room?”

“Well, actually I do, Marti. I do,” Nico answered, the grin on his face becoming wider. 

“Why am I surprised about this revelation?”

“I don´t know, you tell me.”

“Hm, maybe there´s still a bit of hope inside of me that the boy I--”

_ \--fell in love with. _

“--happened to become friends with isn´t that deep into the whole Harry Potter thing as it might have seemed at first but guess I was wrong, it´s worse than I ever thought,” Marti said and laughed. 

“And what about you? Having a rainbow flag up on your wall at home?”

And there it was again.

“No, I don´t . I t´s not my... thing.”

He doesn´t want to tell Nico that he´s actually the only one knowing about him liking guys, being gay.  It could make things somehow awkward. 

“I get it. It´s not that you have to own a pride flag in order to be gay or whatever sexual orientation you have.”

“True.”

“I don’t know if  it´s  okay to ask that now but how did you find out that you like boys?”

It´s okay. It´s definitely okay. Marti was actually kind of happy to get this off his chest for once at least. 

“Well, I kind of never felt the same for girls as my friends did. When they talked about how beautiful  they where , how much they would love to hook up with them or be in a relationship and what they did to their hearts and bodies. I never felt that and couldn´t quite understand why and what´s wrong with me when I was younger. But when I later felt the same things they described only when I see a beautiful boy, I don´t know, my brain somewhen got what´s my “issue”. And at the latest when I fell in love with one, with one of my friends,  yes  I know it´s a cliché, I kind of knew it. That I´m gay.”

“So you´re in love with one of your friends?” 

“What? Oh God no  no ! Not anymore, this is long gone!”

“I see. And what about now? Any boy in prospect?”

“What?”

“Come on, Marti, you understood me well. Any boy your heart beats faster around at the moment?”

_ Yes.  _ _ Yes _ __ _ yes _ __ _ yes _ __ _ yes _ _. Definitely yes. _  But he couldn´t tell Nico. Not now. 

“No. I don´t think so, I mean, it´s kind of compl--,” he tried to gather himself before he continued speaking, “--no, not really.”

“I see,” Nico only said, looking Marti in the eyes, a little smile on his face. 

And it went silent between the two again, both only looking at the other person, not saying anything. 

The air felt heavy around  them,  Marti could feel it changing again. There was... something between them, he could feel it. The tension. Till it became a little too much for him. 

“Anyway,” he started and tried to change the topic and break the silence, “you play the piano, right?”

Not that he actually knew the answer, having  watched  the video on YouTube several times. No, never. 

“I do, yeah.  Wanna  hear something?”

_ Yes _ __ _ yes _ __ _ yes _ __ _ yes _ __ _ yes _ _  please! _

“Yeah, why not?”

“Okay.”

And as soon as Nico said this, he went over to the piano, sitting down on the piano stool. 

“Come here, Marti,” Nico said, pointing to the free space on the stool next to him. 

Marti had to swallow before he got up from the couch, going over to Nico and sitting down next to him. 

From the feet up to the shoulders, everything of these  body parts  was touching Nico´s.

Marti didn´t had time to think more about that, about being this close to Nico, as Niccolò started to play.

He felt relegated to the moment he found that video of Nico, watching it for the first time. Only that this time, seeing Nico play and listening to him, didn´t happen on screen but in real life, directly next to him.

And it was beautiful. 

Nico was beautiful.

The way he furrowed his brows, being completely concentrated, his fingers wandering over the piano keys as if they never did anything else. His tongue peeking out of his lips a little, a little smile on his lips. 

Music was floating the room, the soft melody of the piece Nico was playing is enchanting Marti, makes his heart beat faster. 

 As sudden as the whole spectacle started it ended again. 

Nico still kept his hands on the keys after he played the last note, his eyes closed.

It took him a moment before he opened them again, turned to face Marti and looked him in the eyes. 

“Marti?” he asked quietly. 

“Yes?” Marti responded, being quiet too

“Can I tell you something?”

“Yes of course,” he said, a soft smile on his lips. 

“There´s something going on in my head.”

“What? What do you mean?” Marti asked confused, the smile still being on his face. 

“The thing in my head is... it´s called Borderline Personality Disorder.”

Nico didn´t look Marti in the eyes anymore by now, his gaze turned down to his lap, nervously playing with his fingers. 

Martino saw him swallow before he continued. 

“I´m... Sometimes I feel like I can´t control my feeling and what´s going on in my head, it´s just happening. It feels like my life is a constant rollercoaster ride with all its sudden and fast ups and downs. There are times I feel like the happiest person on earth but on the other hand, sometimes I just feel so bad and want nothing than just stop to exist. I sometimes get paranoid too fast and often and it scares me so much sometimes. The idea of being left behind and alone scares and freaks me out so much, I don´t necessarily have to be alone, I could be in a room full of people with my brain freaking out and telling me that I´m alone or feeling like it, I panic so easily and this scares me, Marti.” 

Nico looked up at Marti again, shiny eyes, a tear rolling down his cheek. Marti leans a little forward and brushes it away with his thumb.  

“It´s okay, Ni,” Marti said, continuing brushing his thumb over Nico´s cheek, having Niccolò smile a little in the process. 

“I... I... The song I  just played,  I wrote it back when I got  diagnosed.  I just... needed something that was mine, that I could control, something that could bring me joy back then. And it happened to be the piano or music in general.”

He released a long breath and swallowed before he continued. 

“I´m sorry, Marti. I shouldn´t have told you this, shouldn´t have whined about my personal problems, I--”

“Shh, everything is okay, Nico,” Marti stopped him from apologising more. 

And then he wrapped him in a tight hug. One hand placed on his shoulder blade, the other one  stroking  Nico´s hair softly. 

“It´s okay. You´re not alone, Nico. I´ll be there for you.”

And with that Nico started crying for real, sobbing into Marti´s shoulder whilst pressing him as close to him as possible to him. Heart to heart. 

Marti tried to sooth and calm him down as long as Nico needed it, as long as he stopped crying. 

After a few minutes Niccolò broke the embrace, pulling back a little and he looked Marti in the eye. 

“Thank you,” he simply said, a little smile on his face, his tears having stopped by now. “Thank you so much.”

They didn´t say anything else, they just kept sitting there behind the piano, looking at each other, their hands touching slightly between their laps.

There didn´t have to be said something, they kind of communicated with their eyes only. 

Marti could see the thankfulness in Nico´s eyes and tried to make clear that he´ll be there for him no matter what. 

The silence got interrupted by the sound of jingling keys and the entrance door getting opened. 

“Nico honey, you home?”

“My mom,” Nico whispered to Marti before he stood up, going to the door. 

“I´m here!” he said, hugging his mom as he approached her. 

Marti watched the whole thing from behind as he followed Nico slowly. 

“Mom, this is Marti, a friend of mine,” Nico  introduced  Marti to his mother as soon as they stopped hugging.

“Martino,” he introduced himself again and shook her hand. 

“Anna. Nice to meet you, Martino!”

“Nice to meet you too, Anna.”

“So, you´re a... friend of Niccolò?”

“Yes mom, he´s a friend of mine. We met through Bookstagram,” Nico butted in, shooting his mom a warning look. 

“Oh, so you´re a book worm too, Martino?  Also  in love with Harry Potter as my son here is?”

“No, definitely not!” Nico and Marti both said at the same time, grinning at each other. 

“I really don´t get the hype around the books, sorry to disappoint,” Marti continued.

“I still don´t know why I like you,” Nico said cheeky. 

“Oh, you like him?” his mother suddenly asked. 

“Mom!” Nico butted in again, shooting his mom another warning look. 

Marti watched the whole interaction between them, smiling to himself.

“What? It seems like you two get along really well,” she said, trying to defend herself. 

“ Yes  we get along well, that´s what friends do, mom. And look how late it already is! Time runs!” Nico said, grabbing Marti´s arm and dragging him back to the door again. “I think Marti needs to get home.”

Marti didn´t fight back as Nico dragged him through the apartment, giving him his backpack and  jacket.

“I´m sorry Marti, really. My mom, she can be really nosy sometimes, especially around new people. I would love to spend more time with you, really, you have to believe me, I just want to save you from her interrogation. And believe me, this would happen if you would stay here longer.”

“Don´t worry, Nico. I get it. But it was a nice day, really.”

“Yes. It was. We need to repeat it very soon.”

“We really do!”

“And Marti?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you!”

“For what exactly?”

“ For  telling me. And for listening to me. And for simply being you.”

Marti smiled at Nico before he got wrapped up in another hug. 

After they broke apart, Nico opened the apartment door for him, leading him out. 

“Ciao Nico.”

“Ciao Marti. See you soon.”

And what that the door closed behind Marti. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is, the next part of their meet up or date, whatever you want to call it :D  
> I really hope that you like it and would love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3  
> The part about Nico telling Marti about his bpd took me so long, I hope it´s not that bad, haha  
> And thank you all for reading <3


	11. The Fares House - Nico´s POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tell me more,” his mom suddenly asked, standing behind him.   
> “More about what? The reason why I should stop bringing people home?” Nico said, trying to sound offended but couldn´t stop a smile approaching on his lips.  
> Yes, his mother sometimes could be a pain in the ass, embarrassing him completely, but he still loves her.  
> “You know what I mean, Nico. He´s cute, isn´t he?”  
> Nico immediately pictured Marti in front of his eyes, smiling brightly.  
> “Yes. He is.”

**-The ~~Riddle~~ Fares House- Nico´s POV**

“You´re starring at me,” Marti suddenly said.

Yes, he was starring at him. He couldn´t help, it just happens. It´s as if his eyes couldn´t do anything else than looking at him as soon as Marti is next to him.

“I am,” he answered, being honest, not trying to deny it this time.

“Why?” Marti asked.

“It´s nice. It´s nice watching you. You´re nice,” he just blurted out, not thinking of the consequences anymore. Nico just wants to get this out this time, doesn´t want to hide his feelings anymore.

“Oh,” Marti said after some seconds of saying nothing.

Nico looked into Marti´s eyes, trying to find something in them, trying to see if he´s feeling the same right now, feeling that there´s something between them, the air changing.

“Yes. _Oh_.”

And with that Nico was getting closer to Marti on the couch, approaching him, their sides touching each other´s now.

His head was spinning, his thoughts racing. Some of them telling him to just go for it, to kiss Marti, encouraging him in his thought that Marti might feel the same as him. Others were telling him to let it go, not to do it. Telling him that he´ll ruin anything, destroying everything that has established between him and Marti, that Marti will think that he´s crazy and a freak, not wanting to have anything to do with him anymore, leaving him, abandoning him, not wanting to see him anymore again. Losing a friend, losing the boy he has a crush on. Nico being left alone again. Alone.

_Alone, alone, alone, alone, alone._

Before he could continue thinking, panicking completely, his thoughts got interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

“I´m sorry!” he said as he got up and went to the door, opening it.

“A package for Niccolò Fares?” the mailman said harshly.

“That´s me!”

“A signature please,” the postman said again, pointing a little device to him where Nico placed his signature, taking the package. Before he could say anything else the guy has already left again and Nico closed the door behind him.

“Bookmail!” he exclaimed happily, going back to the couch and sitting down next to Marti again.

“What did you order?” Marti asked curious.

Nico knew exactly what was inside the package and he couldn´t wait to present his newest book purchase to Martino.

“Wait and be amazed, Marti!”

Nico immediately started to unpack his order, having a wide grin on his face as soon as he was done. He held the book directly next to his face, the grin on his face became even wider, excited what Marti´s reaction to him ordering another Harry Potter book would be. This time the “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” Ravenclaw edition.

“Oh wow, really Nico?”

“Yes, damn real, Marti!”

He loves this book, it was his favourite out of the whole series, and he couldn´t help himself, he just had to own all the books in the house pride edition. It makes him happy.

“Don´t you already own, I don´t know, three editions of the whole series?”

“I do, Marti, I need to show my pride, my Ravenclaw pride.”

“Oh, so do you store any Ravenclaw scarfs or whatever in your room?”

“Well, actually I do,” Nico said and grinned.

Yes, he own several different editions of the Harry Potter series. But he just loves it, it´s special to him as it helped him through some rough times in his life so far.

“Why am I surprised of this revelation?”

“I don´t know, you tell me.”

“Hm, maybe there`s still a bit of hope left in me that the boy I--”

The boy I _what_?

“--happened to become friends with isn´t that deep into the whole Harry Potter thing as it might seemed at first but guess I was wrong, it´s worse than I ever thought,” Marti said and had to laugh.

This laugh. Nico melted a bit at the inside, being completely enchanted by Marti.

“And what about you? Having any rainbow flags on your wall at home?”

“No, I don´t. It´s not my... thing.”

“I get it. It´s not that you have to own a pride flag in order to be gay or whatever sexual orientation you have.”

“True.”

He doesn´t know if it´s okay to ask such a thing, at least right now, as Marti only told him a few hours ago. But he still goes for it.

“I don´t know if it´s okay to ask that now but how did you find out that you like boys?”

“Well, I kind of never felt the same for girls as my friends did. When they talked about how beautiful they where, how much they would love to hook up with them or be in a relationship and what they did to their hearts and bodies. I never felt that and couldn´t quite understand why and what´s wrong with me when I was younger. But when I later felt the same things they described only when I see a beautiful boy, I don´t know, my brain somewhen got what´s my “issue”. And at the latest when I fell in love with one, with one of my friends, yes I know it´s a cliché, I kind of knew it. That I´m gay.”

“So your in love with one of your friends?” Nico asked, really being curious.

“What? Oh God no no! Not anymore, this is long gone!”

Nico decided to become a little bit more forward now, just going for it, stopping to listen to all these voices in his head telling him to not do it.

“I see. And what about now? Any boy in prospect?”

“What?”

“Come on, Marti, you understood me well. Any boy your heart beats faster around at the moment?”

He looked up at Marti, watching his reaction to his question. His heart beating a little too fast. Yes, at least there´s a boy that made Nico´s heart beat faster.

“No. I don´t think so, I mean, it´s kind of compl--,” Marti paused a little before he continued speaking, “--no, not really.”

It´s complicated. Okay.

“I see,” Nico only answered.

Silence hit in again and the feeling, this special feeling he gets in situations like this, when being together with Marti, hit in again.

He looked Marti in the eyes, sees them shining, trying to gather his thoughts and come up with what to say next.

“Anyway,” Marti suddenly started, stopping his thoughts and breaking the silence, “you play the piano, right?”

“I do, yeah. Wanna hear something?”

The piano. He loves it. And he loves Marti. Yes, he would love to play something for him.

“Yeah, why not?”

“Okay.”

Nico immediately stood up, going to the piano and sitting down on the stool, loosen his fingers a bit and placing them on the keys. And he directly knew which song he wants to play.

But before he started, he knew that he wants to have Marti next to him.

“Come here, Marti,” he said, waiting for Marti to sit down next to him again.

Their sides touching completely now.

He waited a few seconds, took a deep breath and then he started playing.

He knew this song by heart. Every note, every tone. He didn´t have to look at any sheet, not even at his fingers, so he just closed his eyes.

Heavy emotions arose as he played, as his fingers wandered over the piano keys. It must look so easy, so free, to someone else watching him. Whilst inside of him all his emotions and feelings were spinning, coming and going again. He felt so much.

As Nico finished playing, he still kept his eyes closed, feeling tears emerge, trying to hold them back, hide them.

It was silent, Marti didn´t say anything.

And after a few moments he finally opened his eyes, turning and looking at Marti again.

He tried to make his head shut up, just listening to his heart. And then he just went for it.

“Marti?”

“Yes?”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Yes of course,” Marti said, a soft smile on his lips.

“There´s something going on in my head.”

“What? What do you mean?” Marti asked confused.

“The thing in my head is... It´s called Borderline Personality Disorder.”

And it was out. For real now. He couldn´t look Marti in the eyes anymore. His fear of being left alone immediately kicking in, blaming him for telling Marti. That he will leave him, why would anyone want to have anything to do with a person like him? He´s not normal, he´s cr--

He stopped himself before his thoughts could keep going on, making him freak out completely.

And then he went on, trying to explain his mind to Marti, Trying to explain himself, making Marti understand.

“I´m... Sometimes I feel like I can´t control my feeling and what´s going on in my head, it´s just happening. It feels like my life is a constant rollercoaster ride with all its sudden and fast ups and downs. There are times I feel like the happiest person on earth but on the other hand, sometimes I just feel so bad and want nothing than just stop to exist. I sometimes get paranoid too fast and often and it scares me so much sometimes. The idea of being left behind and alone scares and freaks me out so much, I don´t necessarily have to be alone, I could be in a room full of people with my brain freaking out and telling me that I´m alone or feeling like it, I panic so easily and this scares me, Marti.”

He doesn´t know if this was to much, if he´s oversharing again, going to scare Marti away. With his feelings. The way his brain works.

Nico couldn´t help, couldn´t make it stop, couldn´t control it once again, but he suddenly started crying. Tears running down his cheeks.

But as he looked up at Marti again he saw him leaning forward. Feeling a thumb on his cheek, Marti brushing his tears away. Caressing his cheek.

“It´s okay, Ni,” Marti said, earning a little smile from Nico.

“I... I... The song I just played, I wrote it back when I got diagnosed. I just... needed something that was mine, that I could control, something that could bring me joy back then. And it happened to be the piano or music in general,” he continued to tell Marti, nothing stopping him right now. The fear of telling too much still being there at the back of his mind, but being overruled by the urge to let this all out, making Marti understand. Making him like, love, him still, despite all his issues, the things going on inside of him. His strong feelings. He needs it, he needs to be accepted and loved.

He released a long breath and swallowed before he continued.

“I´m sorry, Marti. I shouldn´t have told you this, shouldn´t have whined about my personal problems, I--”

“Shh, everything is okay, Nico,” Marti made him stop.

And then he suddenly felt two arms around his shoulders and he was pulled in a tight hug by Marti.

“It´s okay. You´re not alone, Nico. I´ll be there for you.”

_You´re not alone._

These three words did it to him. He started crying even harder, nothing holding him back right now. He just let everything out. He needed to hear this, the confirmation that he won´t get abandoned again, not being left alone.

It took him some time to stop crying, Marti holding him close the whole time, stroking his hair softly.

“Thank you,” as soon as they broke apart, as soon as he managed to let Marti go. “Thank you so much.”

It went silent again, nobody was saying anything. There was nothing left to say, no need to say anything right now. They just stayed there, hands still touching slightly.

And only now Nico realised what had just had just happened.

He told Marti about his illness. About the things going on in his head. And he accepted him, didn’t leave him.

And they were so close, so close to each other. Heart to heart.

Suddenly the silence got interrupted by the sound of keys and the door being opened.

_Fuck._

“Nico honey, you home?”

“My mom,” he whispered to Marti, warning him in advance before he left for the door.

“I´m here!” he said, hugging his mom as he approached her.

“I have a friend over and I don´t want to get disgraced by you or him feeling uncomfortable, okay? Please mom,” he whispered to her ear, so quietly that only she was able to hear it.

“Mom, this is Marti, a friend of mine.”

“Martino.”

Marti introduced himself to his mother again, shaking her hand.

And this image warmed his heart. He just wants his mom to like Marti, he still had a lot of hope that... something might happen between them.

“Anna. Nice to meet you, Martino!”

“Nice to meet you too, Anna.”

“So, you´re a... friend of Niccolò?”

Oh no! He could already sense one of the awkward conversations with his mom coming in.

“Yes mom, he´s a friend of mine. We met through Bookstagram,” he interrupted, shooting his mom a warning look. A look full of _Don´t. Please don´t._

“Oh, so you´re a book worm too, Martino? Also in love with Harry Potter as my son here is?”

“No, definitely not!” he and Marti said at the exact same time, having to grin at each other.

Marti doesn´t like Harry Potter, no. But this books series is still the reason for them starting to talk to each other. And he will forever be grateful for it.

“I really don´t get the hype around the books, sorry to disappoint,” Marti said again.

A typical Marti-answer.

“I still don´t know why I like you,” he couldn´t resist to say this, he just loves to tease Marti. The way his cheeks turn pink and his eyes start shine when he does it.

“Oh, you like him?” his mother suddenly asked.

“Mom!” he had to throw in again, trying to stop her making things awkward between him and Marti.

“What? It seems like you two get along really well,” she said, trying to defend herself.

“Yes we get along well, that´s what friends do, mom. And look how late it already is! Time runs!” he grabbed Marti´s arm. “I think Marti needs to get home.”

He was glad that Marti didn´t fight back when he dragged him through the apartment to get his things.

This isn´t how he imagined this day to end. He wishes that it would never have to, that it simply could go on forever.

“I´m sorry Marti, really. My mom, she can be really nosy sometimes, especially around new people. I would love to spend more time with you, really, you have to believe me, I just want to save you from her interrogation. And believe me, this would happen if you would stay here longer.”

“Don´t worry, Nico. I get it. But it was a nice day, really.”

“Yes. It was. We need to repeat it very soon.”

“We really do!”

“And Marti?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you!”

“For what exactly?”

“For telling me. And for listening to me. And for simply being you.”

_For simply being you. For your words. For your laugh. For your humour. For spending time with me. For being my friend. For helping me more than you think you do._

For all these things Nico didn´t say out loud.

Nico caught Marti smiling at him before he approached him in another hug. Being close to each other again.

After they broke apart, he opened the apartment door for Marti, leading him out.

“Ciao Nico.”

“Ciao Marti. See you soon.”

And what that he closed the door behind Marti.

And he was gone. Immediately being sad about it, being alone, again.

“Tell me more,” his mom suddenly asked, standing behind him.

“More about what? The reason why I should stop bringing people home?” Nico said, trying to sound offended but couldn´t stop a smile approaching on his lips.

Yes, his mother sometimes could be a pain in the ass, embarrassing him completely, but he still loves her.

“You know what I mean, Nico. He´s cute, isn´t he?”

Nico immediately pictured Marti in front of his eyes, smiling brightly.

“Yes. He is.”

“I already like him. He seems to be nice. And cute of course. And he seems to make you happy, that´s the most important thing for me.”

“Thank you, mom. I´m going to my room if it´s okay?”

“Yes of course, don´t worry. Good night already, Nico.”

“Good night, mom,” he said before he went to his room.

He directly perceived his desk and the mess on there. Drawing utensils spread over it, several sketches, papers, pencils. One especially catches his eyes, the one he started after the phone call he and Marti had, in the middle of the night. He just started, started drawing without having anything particular in mind. And it still happened to become a sketch of him. Marti. Marti in a Hogwarts uniform. He would love to continue drawing right now but he couldn´t conquer himself to do it. He simply felt too exhausted out of nowhere again, just wanting to go to bed.

As he lied down he still grabbed his phone and wrote a message to Marti.

_Hey Marti, I´m sorry for kind of kicking you out before believe me, it only was for your best._

_But today was wonderful, thank you for the nice day. And thank you for listening._

**Marti the Slytherin**

_No need to thank me. I should be the one to thank you for listening._

_I´m tired_

**Marti the Slytherin**

_You should probably go to sleep then_

_I guess I will. Good night Marti <3_, he wrote at first but still deleted the heart before he sent it.

_I guess I will. Good night Marti_

**Marti the Slytherin**

_Good night, Nico_ _😊_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it´s been some time since I posted the last chapter but I had aa bad time and didn´t managed to but here it is, FINALLY :D   
> And I hope you liked it and thank you for reading!<3 I know, it´s probably not the most special or exciting one as it´s only the last chapter from Nico´s POV but I kind of felt the... need to write the whole thing from his perspective. Hope I didn´t failed too hard haha :D
> 
> I would love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3


	12. The First Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico was kissing down his chest, enjoying it according to the sounds he made, grinning against Marti every time he couldn´t hold back a sound.
> 
> He didn´t skip a part of skin, not even a little one, kissing every little inch of Marti.
> 
> And Marti felt as if he was in heaven.
> 
> Being adored the way he was right now, Nico´s mouth on him, feeling longed for.
> 
> Feeling loved.

**-The First ~~Task~~ Time-**

Marti was walking through the corridors of the school, on his way to meet his friends outside as he suddenly got grabbed by his arm, pulled into an empty class room and being pressed against the door as soon as it got closed.

His heart started beating and anxiety started to hit in.

Only for a brief moment though.

Till Martino´s eyes met two others.

Green eyes.

_Niccolò´s eyes._

“Nico? What are you doing here?” he asked, confused.

“Marti. I missed you.”

And with that Marti got pulled into a tight hug. The softness and tenderness of it didn´t last long as Niccolò suddenly attached his lips to Marti´s neck, wandering over it, up to his ear, leaving bites on his way. He started sucking a mark behind Marti´s ear.

Marti threw his head back, exposing it completely to Nico, letting him do whatever he pleases.

He tried to hold back a moan as Nico bit the sensitive skin under his ear, pulling at the earlap with his teeth. And he failed, according to Nico´s pleased grin Marti caught before his attention got back to Marti´s neck, worshipping it.

Nico´s mouth never left Marti´s neck for a second as he lifted his shirt a bit, his hands wandering over Marti´s chest. Touching bare skin.

“Nico, somebody is going to see us!” Marti said between two heavy breaths, panting, not sounding convincing or Nico simply doesn´t care about it.

“Nobody is going to see us, Marti,” Niccolò whispered against his neck.

Marti´s body was on fire, at least it felt like it. He couldn´t think clear anymore, his brain not being able to focus on anything else anymore than Nico´s lips on his neck, his hands on his body. Touching every little inch of his chest. Blood was wandering down southwards, making him hard. His body was longing, longing for more touch, more Nico.

 “Nico my friends will be won--,” Marti didn´t get to finish the sentence as Nico suddenly pinched his nipples, caressing them.

“Ni!” a loud moan escaped him.

“You´re so hot, Marti! Has anyone ever told you that?” Nico said whilst he started opening the first buttons of his shirt. Nico´s lips now kissing every inch of new revealed skin.

Marti had to stifle a groan as Nico´s hips rocked into his, feeling that he was hard too. He felt numb, his legs turned to jelly and he was sure he would fall down if it wouldn´t be for Niccolò holding him steady, pressing his body with his own against the door.

Nico opened the remaining buttons of his shirt, pulling it aside a little to reveal more of Marti´s chest to himself, a smile on his lips.

Marti closed his eyes and threw his head back a little, a moan escaping him. He felt exposed, exposed in the best way possible.

Nico was kissing down his chest, enjoying it according to the sounds he made, grinning against Marti every time he couldn´t hold back a sound.

He didn´t skip a part of skin, not even a little one, kissing every little inch of Marti.

And Marti felt as if he was in heaven.

Being adored the way he was right now, Nico´s mouth on him, feeling longed for.

_Feeling loved._

As Nico reached his belly button, he dipped his tongue in, licking around it.

Nico was so close now, close to Marti´s dick, being harder than ever.

Marti felt his mouth wandering upwards again, plastering kisses on his chest.

He couldn´t hold back the loud groan this time.

Nico came up again, facing Martino and grabbing his face with his hands.

“Marti, tell me, what do you want?”

Marti leaned forward, trying to chase Nico´s lips with his but Nico leaned back fast enough, denying him the kiss.

“Marti!” he said again, starring intensively in his eyes, passion burning in his look, “What do you want?”

“You,” Marti simply answered.

“I want you to finally fucking kiss me.”

Nico didn´t said anything, just leaned forward, his face coming closer and closer to Marti´s.

Their lips were nearly touching now, he could feel Nico´s breath on his.

“Okay, Marti.”

And with that Nico finally leaned forward, a smile on his lips, closing the final distance between them, Marti closed his eyes and---

A loud sound started playing next to Martino´s ear, disturbing him. As he opened his eyes again he didn´t look into Nico´s beautiful eyes anymore but the wall opposite to his bed.

_Fuck!_

He grabbed his phone next to him on his nightstand, turning the alarm off. Silence floated the room.

It was only a dream. Nothing of it had really happened.

This has never happened to him before. Yes, he had wet dreams before, waking up turned on and with a boner in the morning but... there was never an actual person involved before. Someone he knows. Someone he actually likes.

Marti fell back into his bed, crossing his arms over his eyes.

Fuck! How will he be ever able to see Nico again? After this? Yeah, nothing happened and Niccolò will never know of it but still. The image of Nico, undressing him, worshipping his body, will never go out of his head again. Shit!

Another sound came from his phone, the notification that a message came in.

Martino grabbed it and opened Whatsapp to see who wrote him.

 

**Il Contrabbandieri di Luchino**

_6:49_

**Elia**

_Party tomorrow? Still up to date??_

**Gio**

_Of course! I´m still in, Marti, Luca what about you?_

**Luchino**

_Yeeeeeees_

_It will be lit_

**Gio**

_Marti?_

Marti sighted before he started to type an answer

_I´m in_

**Elia**

_Marti? You joining us at a party? A miracle_

**Gio**

_He´s just joking Marti, you know?_

**Luchino**

_Yes he actually loves you_

**Elia**

_You sure?_

_Yeah I´m actually joining you, it´s been some time_

**Gio**

_true_

**Luchino**

_Are we going to dress up?_

**Elia**

_Dress up? We´re not 10 anymore luchi_

**Luchino**

_But it´s Halloween_

**Elia**

_And?_

**Gio**

_No dressing up, we don´t want to scare all the girls away_

**Elia**

_Well I don´t want to, if you´re keen on it, come in a costume Luca. This would be fun_

**Luchino**

_You´re mean_

**Gio**

_Dressed up or now I can´t wait._

_Me neither_

**Gio**

_And bring cheerfulness, girls like that_

Damn, he´s fucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayy, a new chapter, haha :D
> 
> I felt so insecure whilst writing it, and even still now, as I´ve never written something like this before. But well :D   
> I still hope that you like it, it´s just a short "filler-chapter", the next one will be longer again :)
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! And I would love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3


	13. Hallowe`en

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Marti? Huuuh? You still with us?” Marti got torn out of his little private bubble he was just in, looking at Gio who waved his hands in front of his face.
> 
> “Ah, you´re still there!” his best friend said with a grin on his lips, “who are you even texting with, huh?”
> 
> “No one.”
> 
> “Oh that no one again? Come on, Marti!” Gio said, rolling his eyes at Martino.
> 
> Marti sighed before he answered Giovanni, or the boys in general, hoping them to let it be afterwards.
> 
> “It´s just a friend, okay?”

**-Hallowe´en-**

The bar was crowded and music was blasting from the speakers. Loud, annoying pop songs no one wants to hear anymore by now. The smell of beer, other alcoholic beverages and sweat in the air.

And Marti, Gio, Luca and Elia right in the middle of it.

Each of them having a beer in front of them, chatting loudly.

“Wha t do you even mean with “Why do you even think about that now?!”, it´s important!” Luchino said, sounding offended.

“Dude, we have the end of October! Why do you even think about what to get Silvia for Christmas now?! Just buy her some chocolate or some shit a few days before,” Elia responded, shrugging.

“There´s it! The end of October, nearly November! The month before Christmas, okay?!” Luca said, sounding genuinely worried.

Marti thought that it was kind of adorable. Luca and Silvia together. An actual relationship and not just there to hook up from time to time. These two are a match made in heaven.

“Don´t worry, Luchi. There´s still plenty of time to find a fitting present for her. And if you already see something nice now you can already buy and keep it till Christmas, okay?” Marti responded, smiling at Luca. Who had to smile too, actually seeming thankful.

“Wow Marti, what happened to you? So wise now, huh?” Elia said mockingly.

“Fuck you!”

“Hey hey hey stop, no fights today!” Gio threw in, a grin on his face. The typical mom friend.

Marti had to smile at it, the usual banter and cheekiness of his squad, of him and Elia. But he still managed to drift away as they picked a new topic up.

His thoughts went back to Wednesday, two days ago, and the day spent with Nico.

This afternoon he felt that something changed between them.

The afternoon he realised that there might be more than just friendship between them. More. And that he´s not the only one feeling it.

 _It´s nice. It´s nice watching you. You´re nice_ , he recalls. Nico´s words.

But he´s already aware of the fact that he´s fucked, couldn´t see Nico anymore without his mind wandering back to last night. _That_ dream. Fuck, he will never be able to get these images of Niccolò out of his head anymore. The way his voice went low when he talked, the heat in his gaze, the way he kissed every inch of his body, how he went down on it, how he—

His thoughts got interrupted by his phone, lightning up, announcing a new message.

A message from Nico. Fuck.

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Hey Marti, haven´t heard from you for a while. Everything okay?? :D_

_Hope my mother didn´t scare you at the end_ _L_

 

No, it wasn´t his mother, not at all.

He just couldn´t even bring himself to text Nico after waking up yesterday. After that… sex dream.

His screen lit up again with another incoming message from Nico.

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Or that I haven´t scared you away.._

 

Marti immediately answered this message.

 

_Hey Nico!_ _No, not at all, don´t worry!!_

_I´m doing good and what about you?_

 

Marti had to smile, hoping that this might calm him down, not feeling guilty about anything that happened that afternoon.

“Marti? Huuuh? You still with us?” Marti got torn out of his little private bubble he was just in, looking at Gio who waved his hands in front of his face.

“Ah, you´re still there!” his best friend said with a grin on his lips, “who are you even texting with, huh?”

“No one.”

“Oh that no one again? Come on, Marti!” Gio said, rolling his eyes at Martino.

Marti sighed before he answered Giovanni, or the boys in general, hoping them to let it be afterwards.

“It´s just a friend, okay?”

“A friend? You have other friends than us, Marti?” Elia grinningly asked, Luca giggling next to him. Yes, giggling.

“Asshole!”

“Do we know him?” Gio asked, actually being interested.

“Hm no. I met him over Bookstagram.”

“Can I meet him, we meet him?” he suddenly asked, “one day.”

“What?!” Marti responded perplex.

“Meet him,” Gio repeated.

“Whom are we going to meet?” Elia asked at the same time as Luca “We´re going to meet Marti´s friend?”

“What? No!” Marti immediately answered.

“Why not? He could join us for a few beers. If you want to of course,” Giovanni said with a smile on his lips.

“Yes, come on, Marti, invite him!” Luca tossed in enthusiastic.

“No! No, really guys, you can meet him another time!”

“Marti please!” Luca nearly begged.

“See, Luchi is so desperate to meet new people, grant it for him,” Elia said and Luca was furiously nodding next to him.

“You don´t need to invite him, Marti, but it could be nice, huh?” Gio asked with a comforting smile on his lips.

“Well… I already did so you don´t need to anymore,” Luca suddenly said, a weird expression on his face.

Martino´s phone in his hands.

Fuck.

“You did what?!” Marti asked furiously, grabbing his phone back as fast as possible, looking at the message.

 

_Hey Nico Bookstagram we´re at a bar right now, celebration Halloween,_

_drinking a few beers. Wanna join us?_

 

The address of the bar they were in beneath.

He´s fucked. Totally fucked.

“Luca! Why did you do this?!” Marti asked, being rattled. Already starting to write a response to Nico, telling him that it wasn´t him who wrote the message but one of his friends.

But Nico´s reply came faster.

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Nico Bookstagram, huh?_

_Guess this wasn´t you?_

_Or you´re a little drunk already?_

_Stay safe Marti, okay?_

_But I´d love to. I´ll be there in a bit :D_

 

_Yeah it wasn´t me inviting you.._

_And no I´m not drunk. Yet :-P_

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Oh_

_I can also stay home_

_If you don´t want to have me over_

 

Shit. Marti immediately regretted his choice of words.

 

_No, don´t worry, Nico! You can join us if you want :D_

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Yeah?_

_Yes_

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Okay. So see you in a bit_ _J_

 

_See you :D_

 

“He´s coming,” Marti simply said as his and Nico´s conversation ended and he put his phone away.

“He is?” Gio asked again, a bit unsure of the situation.

“Yup.”

“That´s great Marti! Can´t wait to meet him!” Luca said enthusiastically.

“There´s only one thing I´m begging you: Don´t embarrass me, be normal. _Just behave_.”

 

“Hey.”

Marti nearly jumped at hearing the familiar voice _. Nico´s._

He turned around, looking at Niccolò standing behind him. Not exactly knowing what to do or what to say, unsure.

“Hey Nico!” Marti greeted him with a welcoming smile, accompanied with his friends murmuring their greetings too.

He gestured to Nico to sit down on the seat next to him which Nico gratefully accepted.

The both looked at each other, smiling, before the short silence that set in broke and Luca interrupted it.

“Nico, right?”

“Yep,” Niccolò answered, sending a smile in the group, “and you?”

Martino´s friends all introduced themselves, one by one. Gio, Elia and Luchino.

“So, Nico, where did you and Marti meet?” Gio asked, turning his gaze to Nico.

“Yes, we met over Bookstagram. Believe me or not, I actually wrote Marti because of his terrible taste in books, huh?” Nico said, looking over at Marti with a grin as he finished, “and well, now I´m here being friends with him even though he´s probably the worst Harry Potter hater out there.”

“Really Ni? You still keep on about that? You´ll never stop, huh?” Marti responded, mirroring Nico´s grin.

“Never, Marti, never!”

And suddenly it felt as if they were back at the couch in Nico´s apartment, just the two of them, all this tension between them, looking each other deeply in the eyes.

Only that they, sadly, weren´t alone, snapping out of their bantering as soon as Gio started talking again.

“Ha! I already told you that your taste in books is weird!” Giovanni threw in loudly, a victorious grin on his lips, “I already like you, Nico.”

“Oh come on, are you ganging up against me now?!”

“Yes, seems like it,” Gio laughed.

“Well, your fault Marti.”

“My fault? Tastes are different, Nico. Not everyone can love your oh so beloved Harry Potter.”

“You´re the one now who started talking about Harry Potter, just saying,” Nico said grinning.

“Shut up!” Marti tried to sound annoyed but couldn´t supress a grin forming on his lips.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Gio, smiling at the both of them, probably amused by their teasing.

“Anyway, Nico, don´t you want to have something to drink? The bar is right there,” Gio said, pointing to the bar a few meters away.

“Yeah, I´m going to get a beer. Does anyone else wants to have something?” he asked into the round.

Marti looked at his empty beer glass in front of him, about to get up and join Nico with getting a new beer.

“Stay, I´m going to get you something. For inviting me,” Nico said, winking at Marti. Yes, he _winked_.

“Marti, tell me, what do you want?” Nico asked him.

_“Marti, tell me, what do you want?”_

These words. He wished he could, wished he could make his brain stop. Stop it from coming back to this dream all the time. It´s fucked up.

Marti is pretty sure that his face has to resemble a tomato right now, a bright red flush creeping up his cheeks.

_I want you to finally fucking kiss me._

“A beer,” he quickly answered, “thanks Nico.”

They exchanged a smile before Niccolò left.

“Hey, I was the one inviting him, I should get the beer!” Luca exclaimed, earning an eye roll and a slap to the back of his head from Elia.

“Shut up, Luchi!”

Elia and Luca started a little fight as Gio leaned over to Marti.

“He´s nice, I really like him. I´m glad that you´ve found such a good friend, Marti.”

Marti had to smile at Gio´s words. He´s glad, thankful, that Gio likes him.

“Here!” Nico said and placed a beer in front of Marti as he came back.

“Thank you! But you didn´t have to!”

“Don´t worry about that!”

“Nico, tell us, what are you even doing? Are you attending university?” Gio asked, genuinely interested.

“Yes, I´m attending university. I´m doing music theory.”

“Music? Sounds interesting!”

“Yeah it´s a… very important part of my life and helped me through some rough times, so yeah… music theory it is now,” Nico said, being a little unsure of himself, looking over at Marti.

Marti gave him an encouraging smile, only assuming how hard it must be for him at times to talk about such things. Even if it´s only vague here now, he knew that there was more behind it. Knowing what Nico confessed to him.

“Guys, girls!” Luca suddenly threw in, his gaze drawn over to the bar.

Martino sighed before he drew his gaze away from Nico´s, slowly, looking over at the bar where his friends were already starring at.

It seems like a group of three girls has just entered the bar, standing over at the counter now, whispering and looking over at their table from time to time.

“Well Marti? Your type this time?” Elia asked him with a cheeky grin.

Fuck. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck._

“Yeah, what about the small dark haired one?” Luca continued, pointing at her. Subtility? Never heard of it.

“Come on, let it be guys, no girls today. Just a boys-evening. You can do that once, right?”

“But this could be your chance, Marti! Go over there and talk to her,” Luca said.

“Yeah, why not? She´s pretty!” Gio tossed in.

“She… she´s not my type,” Marti said, trying to sound convincing.

“Oh, this excuse again?” Elia asked.

Marti looked slightly over at Nico, a confused gaze on his face, not knowing how to interpret the situation. But he kept it to himself.

“Yep, and I´m simply not as desperate as you. If you want to talk to them, go over, I won´t stop you.”

He didn´t want, couldn´t talk about girls. Not now. Not when Niccolò was this close to him, their arms brushing and tights touching all the time.

“You´re so boring Marti, just as you´re love life.”

“Oh, and yours is better, Elia?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, I can see! All those girls battling each other to be with you, huh?” Marti said and had to grin at it.

“Well, I have a stable love life. And a girlfriend. Her name is Silvia,” Luca randomly threw in with a big smile on his face.

His friends continued talking about their love lives, _his_ love lives, girls. Girls girls girls.

And Marti couldn´t take all of this right now.

“I need some fresh air!” he simply said, didn´t look back once, as he nearly ran out of the bar.

He went around the building once, stopping at a little dark alley opposite of it, leaning against a trashcan.

His breath went irregular and it took him some time to get it back to normal.

Fuck. That´s not what he planned to happen when he told Nico that he can join them. Not at all.

What does he have to think about him now? About the boy who seems to be gay but still gets set up with girls.

He closed his eyes for a moment, just breathing in the fresh air of the night.

“Marti?” he suddenly heard and looked up, Nico standing next to him now.

“Hey,” Marti simply said.

“Why did your friends do this?” Nico straight forwardly asked, not tipping around the question that seemed to be in his head. No wonder.

Marti sighed, turning his body over to Nico who now stood next to him at the trashcan.

“They… they don´t know it,” he slowly started, “about that thing about me. That girls don´t do it for me. That I´m gay.”

“Oh,” Nico simply answered, his eyes gone wide.

“Yes, oh. You´re the first one I actually told about it.”

Nico didn´t say anything else for now, silence setting in between them.

“I hope this doesn´t bother you,” Marti said after some time, being totally unsure of himself.

“No, Marti, not at all, don´t worry! It´s okay. It´s great that you confided into me. I like it. And I like you, Marti. A lot.”

Marti just starred into Nico´s eyes, not saying anything. Not knowing what to say. But knowing that there wouldn´t be the need to say anything as Nico´s head came closer to his. He automatically mirrored the action, coming closer to Nico.

Getting closer, each of them drawn closer to the other one. Like magnets who belong together.

Their noses bumped into each other, Marti being able to feel Nico´s breath on his lips.

His heart was beating a little too fast and suddenly it hit him. Niccolò is going to kiss him now. He´s going to kiss Nico.

And he´s not afraid.

A smile was plastered on his lips and returned his smile before their lips were about to finally touch—

“Marti? Nico?”

Marti turned his face away from Nico´s as soon as it get there, looking up into Luca´s eyes who stood in front of them now.

“There you are! Gio said I should go and look for you two.”

He heard Nico let out a quiet frustrated groan next to him. At least he thinks so, it might also be his brain not working properly at the moment right now. Still spinning, his thoughts circling about what just happened. That he would have shared his first kiss with Nico if it wouldn´t have been for Luchino interrupting them. _His first kiss with Nico._

Luca was already on his way back to the bar again, Nico looked back at Marti with an apologizing smile on his lips before he went after Luca.

Marti sighed and recalled Nico´s words before he followed him back to the bar. Having a smile on his lips despite the occurrences.

_And I like you, Marti. A lot._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uff, listening to "Buon Viaggio" on repeat and writing on this fanfic here sounds like a nice coping mechanism, huh? I´m still so so sad about the news about Skam Italia :(( Nico and Mati really made my life better. This might sound sappy now, I know, but it´s the truth. Uff. 
> 
> Anyway, I nevertheless hope that you like that chapter <3 Is it a good sign that I got frustrated whilst writing the end myself? Haha :D I would really love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3
> 
> See you next time & Share the Love <3


	14. The Worst Day After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He was about to stand up and go and get some aspirin from the bathroom as the memories of yesterday night came back to him. The bar. His friends. The girls. Niccolò. Their almost kiss.
> 
> Niccolò. Their almost kiss.
> 
> An instant smile appeared on Marti´s face.
> 
> He nearly kissed Nico. Nico nearly kissed him.
> 
> The boy he fell in love with.
> 
> The smile on Marti´s face became even wider and wider, thinking back to yesterday evening, their talk outside, Nico`s words.
> 
> And I like you, Marti. A lot.

**-The Worst ~~Birthday~~ Day After-**

As soon as Marti opened his eyes for the first time he regretted it immediately. The sun was blazing inside his room, dazzling his eyes. And let´s not start talking about his head.

It. Hurt. Like. Hell.

Fuck.

He sank back into bed, throwing his arm over his eyes, trying to stop the sunlight from shining into his eyes.

Fuck alcohol! He´ll never even look at it again, ever!, he thought to himself whilst rolling around in bed slightly, trying to find a comfortable position and let out a groan.

He was about to stand up and go and get some aspirin from the bathroom as the memories of yesterday night came back to him. The bar. His friends. The girls. Niccolò. Their almost kiss.

_Niccolò. Their almost kiss._

An instant smile appeared on Marti´s face.

He nearly kissed Nico. Nico nearly kissed him.

The boy he fell in love with.

The smile on Marti´s face became even wider and wider, thinking back to yesterday evening, their talk outside, Nico`s words.

_And I like you, Marti. A lot._

The headache and hangover forgotten.

But only for a short time as his head started to roar again soon after.

He let out another groan before he turned around to take a look at his phone.

It was already noon, him having slept through the half day already.

And there where some new, unread messages.

**Il Contrabbandieri di Luchino**

**Luchino**

_Yesterday was SIcK_

_And Nico is so nice_

_Glad that I´ve invited him huh?_

 

**Elia**

_Normally I would tell him to fuck off but I have to agree with him for once_

_Niccolò is a pretty nice dude_

 

**Gio**

_He is!! It was nice meeting him_

 

Marti looked down at his phone, smiling. His friends liked Nico. And his hopes were still there that they might not have a problem with them being more then friends. Boyfriends, maybe.

He looked at his phone again, seeing that there´s an unread message in his and Gio´s chat, clicking on it.

 

**Gio**

_Really Marti, Nico is a really nice guy_

_I´m glad you´ve met him_

_And I´m happy that you´ve found someone you get along with so well_

_Don´t forget me buddy_

 

Marti had to laugh at Giovanni´s last message before he texted him back

 

_Oh come on fuck off_

_As if I could ever forget you_

 

**Gio**

_And you know you can talk to me whenever you want okay?_

 

Marti starred at his screen for some time before he managed to type a simple answer.

 

_Okay_

_Thank you_

 

**Gio**

_No problem_

 

He knows that he could talk to his best friend, tell him everything, about the way he feels, about Niccolò. But that small part in his brain, the one warning him of the possible outcome of him not wanting to talk to Marti anymore, is still there, standing in his way.

As he looked down on his phone again he saw that another message came in. A message from Nico.

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Good “morning”, Marti ;) Already awake??_

_Wouldn´t be surprised if not_

_It got a bit late yesterday_

_But it was nice. Thank you for inviting me!_

_Or let´s say thank you to Luchino and to you being so graceful to allow me to come ;)_

 

Marti had to smile at Nico´s messages, the corners of his mouth drawing up immediately.

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_And you´re cute when you´re drunk btw ;)_

_Nico called him cute. He thinks he´s cute._

Marti probably shouldn´t be surprised by such comments anymore. Nico had it proven to him over the time now that he likes dropping those from time to time, making Marti blush all the time. But still, even if he´s kind of used to it by now, his heart started beating faster and a big smile appeared on his face.

He sighed happily and content before he texted Niccolò back.

 

_Haha very funny_

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_I know, I´m funny indeed huh?_

 

Marti could really picture him grinning down at his phone right now. Having a smile on his lips, the same as yesterday, the same as he leaned in, wanting to kiss him.

_The funniest_

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_I know I know_

 

_Anyway, are you free today? Would you like to meet?_

 

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Oh, so no hangover anymore? ;)_

_Hangover`s still there_

_But seeing you might make it better you know_

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Ah I see, that´s how it´s working now ;)_

_But I`m sorry Marti, I´m already meeting up with a friend of mine today_ _L_

_What about next week_

 

Marti caught himself pouting at his screen.

 

_Next week sounds good_

_Have a nice day_  

**Nico Bookstagram**

_Thank you Marti, you too! :D_

 

He sighed before he put his phone on his night stand again and finally stood up.

After quickly brushing his teeth and getting something to eat from the kitchen, Marti went back to his room, standing in front of his bookshelf now. It took him some time till he picked up a new book to read, “The Shining” by Stephen King, but he settled in on his bed real quick afterwards, opening the book and started reading.

_“Jack Torrrance thought: Officious little prick._

_Ullmann stood five-five, and when he moved, it was with the prissy speed that seems to be exclusive domain of all small plumb men.” …_

\-----

Time always passes fast, maybe even too fast when Marti is reading. And it doesn´t feels like it. Not at all.

About an hour later, Marti being on page 153 now, he put the book away and took a break from reading. He stretched himself a bit before he grabbed his phone again.

No new messages to answer so Marti decided to take a look on Instagram. He scrolled a bit through his timeline, liking and commenting in a few posts.

And then he saw that Nico had posted a new Insta story. He didn´t hesitate and clicked on it immediately.

It was a selfie, Nico smiling bright into the camera. The face he made was truly adorable. Next to him, a brown-haired girl, hugging him around the waist and smiling into the camera too. They seemed familiar.

The caption “What a beautiful day <3” added to the picture.

And only now Marti saw that Nico seemed to have tagged her.

**@madda.lena**

He knows that it shouldn´t bother him, that he shouldn´t be kind of jealous of her spending time with Nico and he also knows that he shouldn´t do this. But he couldn´t help and clicked on the name and started scrolling through her profile.

A few selfies of her, a few pics with friends Marti guesses. According to her profile she seems to study medicine, and then there were a few obligatory sky-pictures. And then he found a selfie of her and Nico.

His heart was bigger than his brain at the moment so he immediately clicked at it.

Nico was kissing her cheek on this one, a content look on both of their faces.

 **madda.lena:** to the moon and back., said the caption of the post.

And even if he´s not sure about it, doesn´t know if it´s a good idea, Marti clicked on the comments and took a look on it.

 **giulia.bian_chi:** Aww you both are still the cutes couple out there

 **de.luca_sofia:** I wish my relationship would be as nice as yours

 **1alessia23:** _@de.luca_sofia_ Finally Dump his ass, he doesn´t even deserve you girl

 **de.luca_sofia:** _@1alessia23_ Oh come on

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles:** I love you! <3

 **madda.lena:** _@nicoissurroundedbymuggles_ same, so so much. <3

 **nicoissurroundedbymuggles:** _@madda.lena_ <3 <3

 

I love you! <3

_I love you! <3, I love you! <3, I love you! <3_

Nico loves her.

Her. Not him.

He looked down at his phone for another minute, reading the comments over and over again. He knows he probably shouldn´t do it but it´s as if his eyes are glued to the screen and he couldn´t look away. A single tear was slowly wandering down his cheek. And his heart was broken. In thousands of little splitters.

And this was the moment his crush, Nico, the boy he thought would be special, different, the boy he thought that could like him back, the boy he loved, it was the moment he turned into one of his stupid, hopeless crushes again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... here we go again, a new chaper. Wuhu :D  
> Yes, it might be a bit too dramatic at the end but, as weird as this might sound now, it was actually fun writing it.  
> Even if it´s not the most "happy-one" I hope you still enjoyed reading, well at least a little bit, and I would love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3


	15. Niccolò Fares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Martino,” Giovanni said in a warning voice, “the last time I saw you, at the Halloween party, you were the happiest and in such an euphoric mood. And now it just seems as if something happened, something bad, and as if the whole world was crushing. Talk to me, Marti! I will listen, whatever you have to tell about whatever makes you sad. Marti, you´re my best friend and you´re so important to me. I just want you to be happy and to have the best life possible.”  
> Marti had to swallow, listening to his best friend´s words made him shiver. And suddenly he didn´t feel afraid anymore, at least not as much as he used to. And suddenly he just went for it.   
> “I fell in love.”

**- ~~Nicolas Flamel~~ Niccolò Fares-**

It was a nice Sunday afternoon. Well, it would be one. Marti hanging out at Gio`s place, the actual purpose being studying for an upcoming exam next week. Just that they barely got some studying done till yet, eating some pizza and playing a few rounds of FIFA. So it would have been nice.

 _Would_. If there wouldn´t have been the memories of Nico, him and Nico together, broken because of the discovery of Niccolò having a girlfriend. That nothing they shared, nothing that had felt so special to Martino, was real in the first place. And that knowledge broke Marti on the inside, his heart, making him feel miserable.

He looked over to Gio who sat next to him on the couch, finding him already looking at him. The game paused.

“Marti,” he simply said, raising his eyebrows at his best friend.

“Gio?”

“Talk to me,” Gio responded with emphasis in his voice.

Marti was about to say something, asking Gio what he meant, about to try to deny everything Gio might say now. But his best friend was faster than him.

“And don´t try to deny anything or to find an excuse. You´re my best friend, Marti, I see that something is off.”

“Nothing is off, Gio!”

“Martino,” Giovanni said in a warning voice, “the last time I saw you, at the Halloween party, you were the happiest and in such an euphoric mood. And now it just seems as if something happened, something bad, and as if the whole world was crushing. Talk to me, Marti! I will listen, whatever you have to tell about whatever makes you sad. Marti, you´re my best friend and you´re so important to me. I just want you to be happy and to have the best life possible.”

Marti had to swallow, listening to his best friend´s words made him shiver. And suddenly he didn´t feel afraid anymore, at least not as much as he used to. And suddenly he just went for it.

“I fell in love.”

“What? But Marti that´s fantastic! Who is she? The person, I mean,” he corrected himself before he continued, “is it the person you´re always texting with? The one that makes you smile like an idiot? That makes you so happy?”

Marti smiled slightly, a bit of self-pity in his smile, thinking back to all the text conversations he had with Niccolò, how happy it had actually made him.

And that it´s over now.

He looked over to Gio who looked at him expectant.

His thoughts started racing, debating about whether it would be a good idea, to tell Giovanni now, to just let his feels out, let them guide him. Or if he should keep quiet, find an excuse really quickly, and stay in his cage, the closet, he had learned to live in for years, even if it wasn´t the best.

His thoughts suddenly shutting up and his heart taking over as he suddenly heard himself saying it, those words he had kept to himself his whole life. So long. Too long.

“It´s not a girl. It´s a boy.”

And the room went completely silent. The only thing Marti was able to hear was his heartbeat, a little too fast, and his ears ringing.

Martino looked Gio in the eyes, them not giving anything away.

“It´s Niccolò,” he continued, letting a shaky and nervous breath out after he´s done.

As he looked over at his best friend he saw a smile slowly appearing on his face, getting wider and wider.

“Really Marti? That´s nice! He´s a good guy.”

Marti sighed and immediately had to think of Nico. His laugh, his humour, the fact that he always felt that comfortable around him. Just the way he is.

“He is,“ Marti answered a little sad.

“How did you met him?”

“We met over Bookstagram, but you already know that. He basically shitted on me first that I didn´t like Harry Potter but it changed into teasing soon and well… We got along pretty good right from the start I guess. At least it felt like that for me. We texted some time till we realised that we´re both from Rome and decided to meet. The first time meeting him was the day I came late to our meet up with Elia and Luca. And well, it didn´t stop after one meeting, we met again and there hasn´t been a person I felt that comfortable and at ease around this fast for some time. We talked about this and that, struggles he´s going through and well, one time I simply told him that I´m… that I´m gay and like boy. This was so terrifying, Gio, even if his reaction wasn´t bad, not at all, I felt so relieved afterwards. It might sound stupid now but it always felt as if there was… something between us, something special, you know? I can´t really describe it and put it into words but it was… so nice. Everything, spending time with him,” Marti looked up at his best friend who still sat there and smiled at him, “oh, and on Friday, when I went out of the bar he followed me and, well, he tried to kiss me I guess but Luchi came out and interrupted us.”

“Marti what? This sounds so romantic!”

“It does.”

“This sounds so wonderful, I´m so happy for you. But… why are you looking that sad then? Did something else happen?”

“It sounds beautiful, but for me only?”

“For you only?” Gio said, looking confused.

“Yeah, these feelings were just one-sided, there´s nothing more than friendship between us. I… guess it was just my mind playing tricks on me, telling me that Nico might really like me back.”

“But Marti?”

“Hm?”

“He tried to kiss you?”

“Yes. And?” Marti asked, raising his brows.

“He tried to kiss you! And you want to tell me that he has no feelings for you and only sees you as a friend?!” Gio said loudly, looking at his best friend as realisation suddenly appeared on his face.

“Shit Marti, Luchino interrupted you?! I was the one sending him out to look for you, gosh! Damn Marti I´m so sorry I—,” he didn´t get to finish his sentence as Martino already butted in again.

“Don´t worry, Gio. Even if Luchi wouldn´t have come out to look after us there, nothing would have happened.”

“What do you mean, Marti?”

“He has a girlfriend. He likes girls, not boys. Not me,” he whispered.

“But Marti you know that liking girls doesn´t necessarily have to mean that he couldn´t like boys too! Bi, pan, and so on, ever heard of it?” Gio asked, grinning a little before he continued, “but how do you know that Nico has a girlfriend? Did he tell you?”

“No he didn´t, I found it out on my own. He linked her on Instagram and well, there are a few pictures of him or them together on her Instagram. And no Gio, before you asked, they´re not just friends, an “I love you” under a picture and people complementing their relationship is clear enough,” Marti said and let a broken breath out.

“But Marti—”

“Gio, no need to try and tell me that they aren´t together, you don´t need to do this to try to make me feel better. It´s okay.”

“Okay, but I still can´t imagine it. I´ve seen the look on Nico´s face when he´s talked to you. Gosh Marti, his eyes were _shining_!”

Martino couldn´t help himself and had to smile sadly as the memories of the Halloween party came back again, him still being happy.

“And if it´s should be like that, he´s an idiot. The biggest idiot out there. If he lets someone like you go. You´re a catch, Marti, and every boy out there could be happy to date you. It wouldn´t be fair of Nico to give you hope and let you fall in the end, he would be an asshole. And Marti, believe me, you´ll find someone better. You deserve someone better.”

“Me being a catch is something my mom or grandma would normally say,” Marti said grinning, earning a laugh from Gio.

“How did you find out? That you like boys? You can tell me, only if you want of course.”

“Well, I never paid much attention to it, that I did find boys… cute I guess? It never occurred to be that it might be something special, it just was like that. Only when you guys and in general people around me back at elementary school started to have crushes on girls and talk about them, their looks, how beautiful they were, I could never get and understand it. The way you described you feelings for girls… I felt the same for boys. As older as I got I realised that I could never be normal, that I like boys and boys only. That I´m gay. And it made me feel so insecure of myself and of how the world would see me if everyone would know about it. Believe me, it terrified me. The thought that people would think differently of me, might cut ties. I was so afraid that it got me more and more into the closet. I knew that I liked guys, had crushes on them, but it would have never occurred to me to tell someone about it. Not till now, till I met Nico who just was… special.”

“Marti?” Gio asked after Marti finished telling his story.

“Yes?”

“I´m sorry. I´m so fucking sorry if I ever gave you the feeling that you can´t talk to me about it, that I would hate you or whatever. I could never! You´re my best friend and you´re so important to me. I love you no matter what, Marti!”

And with that Gio embraced Marti into a tight hug. Marti just knew that nothing had changed between them, Gio still touching him as before. And it felt as if all the weight has lifted from his shoulders for now, being there in the arms of his best friend. The best he could wish for.

“I´m so proud of you Marti. So, so proud!“

And it felt as everything would be good. Even if it´s just for the moment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyy new chapter :D   
> Marti might be confused and sad about Niccolò at the moment but at least Gio made him open up yayyy <3  
> Writing this was actually so nice. I wrote it a day after I´ve rewatched season 2 of Skam Italia (which I´ve watched a day after coming out to a friend of mine and I felt like as I´ve been Marti and she was Gio in that situation, it was so perfect haha - wow random rambling end) and uff, i´m still not over Effetivamente, it gives me life, haha :D<3
> 
> I really hope you enjoyed reading it and I would love to hear what you think of it in the comments <3


	16. The Very Secret Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you still remember that new friend of mine I was telling you about once? The one I met up with in the city about a week ago I guess, the one you talked to when you picked up my phone?”
> 
> “Yes of course, he was very friendly and nice. Nicolas, right?”
> 
> “Niccolò,” Marti simply said with a sad smile on his lips.
> 
> “What´s with him?”
> 
> “I think he´s more than a friend to me.”

**-The Very Secret ~~Diary~~ Confession-**

A happy but especially relieved buzz surrounded Martino as he was walking trough the streets of Rome on his way back home from Gio`s house. The sun was slowly setting and a cold breeze was blowing trough his hair, the hands deep down in the pockets of his jacket to keep them warm. He felt good, really good, at ease now that this enormous weight was lifted off his shoulders for once. He told his best friends about his feelings and Marti couldn´t be happier about his reaction, the decision to just go for it after all those years of worrying, being afraid and in the closet.

It nearly felt as if he would be hopping through the streets when he turned around a corner. Only to get stopped in his way as he bumped into a person that was walking around the corner in the other direction than him. As he looked up to say sorry he looked into a pair of green eyes. Familiar green eyes. Nico.

Marti just stood there, unable to speak, starring into Niccolò´s eyes.

“Hey,” Nico´s voice pulled him out of his trance, trying to gather himself again.

“Hey,” he answered, sounding monotone.

“How are you, Marti? Is everything okay? You haven´t answered to my texts the last two days, I was worried.”

Martino tried to find his words, to say something to Nico, to tell him that he should stop getting his hopes up only for the sake of already having a partner, a _girl_ friend in the end. But he didn´t manage to.

“Anyway, I found this cute bookstore on Saturday, we definitely have to go there together once. You would like it,” Nico continued.

On Saturday. Probably with that Maddalena. His _girlfriend_.

“What do you say, Marti?” Nico asked, angling his head a bit to the side.

Images flashed into Marti´s mind. Seeing Nico´s motions, it reminded him of that one night, the Halloween part, their almost kiss. Nico`s face coming closer and closer to his, a smile on his lips, his head tilting to the side. In the exact way he does it right now.

But all of this is over now.

“I… I have to go,” Marti just quickly said before he went away from Nico, nearly stormed away, bumping into his shoulder a little in the process.

He nearly ran through the streets and only stopped after some minutes, to catch his breath again. Trying to process what just happened.

It felt like everything was a little too big for him at the moment and that he doesn´t handle it well. But confiding in Gio actually felt good and helped putting away a bit of the weight that was still placed on his shoulders.

Now that he has told his best friend about this part of himself, this secret he kept for so long, he felt free. Light. Well, almost. There´s still at least one person left he needs to talk to.

And so he headed home.

\-----

“Mom? Are you home?”

“In the living room!”

Marti sighed before he took his shoes and jacket off and went into the living room, his mother sitting on the couch.

“Hey Marti, how was your day?” she asked him as he approached her and hugged her shortly, she pressed a kiss to his cheek in the process.

“It was nice I guess. I actually wanted to ask if you have time to talk right now?” he answered as he sat down next to her on the couch.

“To talk? Yes of course! I just finished talking with your grandma over the phone so yes, I´m all yours.”

Marti was sure about this, was sure that he´s ready to tell his mom, hoping that she´ll understand.

But there´s one thing bugging him.

His grandma.

She can be a lovely woman sometimes but he knows about her conservative opinions when it comes to homosexuality. And he doesn´t know if it´s the right timing after a phone talk with her. Who knows what they´ve talked about, what his grandma told his mother.

He was so sure about this, was so sure that, after the talk he had with Gio, he wants to tell his mother about that part of himself.

Marti´s head started spinning again, the same as it was at Gio´s earlier, thoughts were racing and he tried to weight pros and cons.

He knows that this could go wrong, totally wrong, he guesses that´s one of the side effects of coming out, one of the biggest fears. But still, his mind told him to go for it, that it´s the right thing to finally tell his mother.

He took a deep breath before he started talking.

“Do you still remember that new friend of mine I was telling you about once? The one I met up with in the city about a week ago I guess, the one you talked to when you picked up my phone?”

“Yes of course, he was very friendly and nice. Nicolas, right?”

“Niccolò,” Marti simply said with a sad smile on his lips.

“What´s with him?”

“I think he´s more than a friend to me.”

His mom raised an eyebrow at him but didn´t say anything else, didn´t interrupt him.

“I… I… I like him. I may even have fallen in love with him. I don´t like girls, Mamma. I… I like boys.”

It´s out now. And he can´t take it back now.

Marti was starring down at his lap, nervously playing with his fingers. Not daring to look up at his mom. Not yet.

It took him some time till he finally gathered the courage to look her in the eyes again, finding her looking at him already. _Fondly_.

“Do you think this changes the way I think of you? You´re the most important thing in my life, Marti,” he heard her saying and felt a single tear running slowly down his cheek.

“I… I wasn´t sure about that, about the way you would think about it. About the way you would think about _me_. I mean, I know how grandma is when it comes to this topic and I never was sure how you would react to it. Before you would have had the same opinions as grandma I would rather have kept it to myself. It worked for some years now,” Marti said, mumbling the last part.

“Marti? Was this the reason you never told me about it? Your grandma?”

“Maybe? At least a part of it,” he answered with a sigh.

“I always knew that my mother had a strong faith and some extreme and conservative opinions on certain topics. But I never could identify with them, I sometimes saw the world more open minded than her. I just want you to know that I´ll never judge you because of who you love, Marti!”

Marti couldn´t stop his tears now anymore and just started crying, let it all out. He was so happy and relieved.

“And if she´s ever going to say something bad about you,” his mom continued, “then she´ll have me to contend with.”

Marti´s emotions where acting crazy, the one moment he still cried and now he couldn´t help but had to laugh, the tears still running down his face.

“I love you, Marti, no matter what. You´re so brave!”

And as soon as his mother has finished her sentence they were hugging each other tightly, his mother stroking his hair.

“I love you too,” Marti said as they broke apart again after some time that felt like a little eternity.

“And now tell me about that boy of yours. Is he cute? How did you met? Is he good looking?” his mother hit him with a thousand questions, a grin on her lips.

“I´m not going to talk with you--,” he started but stopped immediately as he saw his mother raising an eyebrow at him.

“Come on Marti, you can talk with me about such things!”

“But you´re my mom!”

“And? I´m a cool mom, you know?”

“Yes, you´re a cool mom,” he said grinning.

“Okay… Yes, he´s cute. Very cute. He has the most beautiful green eyes I´ve ever seen and black curly hair I just want to run my fingers through. I love his humour and his smile. Oh, and he´s so talented at playing the piano. And the biggest Harry Potter stan I´ve ever met in my life. We met over Bookstagram and started to text there and well… in the process of all of this I fell in love with him,” Marti said with a dreamy look on his face. The knowledge about Nico not liking him that way and having a girlfriend put aside for a moment.

“Sounds like you fell really hard for him. When am I going to meet him?”

And with that the realisation hit in again, knowing that he´ll never have something with Niccolò, something that is more than friendship.

“We´re not together anymore. We… we were never together. And we´ll never be.”

“What are you talking?”

“I found out that he has a girlfriend.”

“So he flirted with you but has a girlfriend in the end? He´s an asshole then.”

“Mom!”

“What? Isn´t it like that?”

“No… I guess the whole thing was always only in my head, my imaginations. He probably never flirted with me or anything, I guess I just wanted it to be like that and made it up,” Marti said sadly.

“Heartbreak can be hard, I know that. But you´ll find someone some day who truly loves you. You deserve someone like that!”

 _I want that someone to be Nico_ , he thought but kept it to himself.

“You know, Gio said the same thing this afternoon,” Marti responded with a grin.

“Well, I guess you picked the right friend. He seems to be really wise,” she answered with a grin on her lips herself.

It just happened automatically and they started hugging each other tightly again.

He loves her so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter whup whup :D   
> I love Mamma Rametta a lot and I´m so glad Skam Italia actually introduced her as a character <3
> 
> I really hope that you liked the chapter and I would love to hear what you think of it in a comment <3
> 
> (And yes, I can´t believe that there are only three chapters left to write anymore, I´m woking on it since March now, wow.)


	17. Gio, Marti, Elia and Luchino

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fuck. What has he done?!
> 
> “What have I done?” he exclaimed loudly now, a panicked look on his face, looking at his friends.
> 
> “Ha! And you´re always saying that I´m the dumb one,” Luca said, a proud and cheeky grin on his lips.
> 
> Marti´s mind was racing, it felt as if it was completely empty, not being able to know what to do now and full of thoughts that were spinning around at once. Fuck.

**- ~~Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs~~ Gio, Marti, Elia and Luchino-**

It was a late Saturday afternoon, Gio, Marti, Elia and Luchino propped up on the couch in Gio´s living room. Lots of empty lemonade bottles on the table in front of them, four empty pizza cartons. They were playing their -don´t know, Marti has stopped counting by now- FIFA game, shouting at each other and celebrating every scored goal.

It´s nothing special, they met up for FIFA tournaments from time to time, spending entire days in front of the TV. But still, it felt like something was off to Marti. It felt like something was missing. Someone. Niccolò.

Marti hasn´t seen him since the day they bumped into each other, one of the most awkward conversations in his life, and he also hasn´t texted him since. But well, Niccolò has. As he looked down on his phone he saw a few unread messages, he hadn´t clicked on any of them, trying to ignore him, trying to cut him out of his life. Not being jealous, of Nico´s girlfriend – just trying to live his life as he did before, out of the closet. And if Gio and his mom are right, he´ll find someone else someday. Someone better. Someone who really liked him, without having a girlfriend.

The screen of his phone lit up again, showing another incoming message.

 

**0039 327 7034 967**

_Marti, please talk to me_

 

He simply locked his phone again and put it away. As he looked up, Marti saw Gio directly looking at him, raising an eyebrow. A quiet question: What´s going on? Is everything okay? Martino simply shrugged, a kind confused look on his face.

His face turned away from his best friend again, starring into the distance for some time till he looked at the TV again, watching the match Elia and Luca were playing at the moment.

It only took them some minutes till Elia scored the final goal and Luca starting to complain about him apparently cheating. The usual.

“I´m going to get some coke, does anyone want something?” Elia asked as he stood up from the couch, already on the way to the kitchen.

“Yeah me, wait I´m going to pick something myself,” Luca responded before he got up and followed Elia into the kitchen.

And then the living room went silent. Till the moment Giovanni broke the quietness.

“Marti,” he simply said, looking him in the eyes, “what´s going on? I can sense that something´s off. Is it Niccolò?”

Martino nodded.

“I met him on my way home from your place the day I told you about him. And Gio, I´m so confused. Like, he has a girlfriend and still talked to me, wanted to bring me to meet him again properly. As if nothing had happened.”

“And you´re still sure that there´s nothing more behind it? That it´s the right thing to cut him out of your life so abruptly? You should let him explain and listen to him, communication is the key. Talk to him, Marti!”

“Talk to whom?” Elia suddenly asked as he, Luchino directly behind him, entered the living room again, two cans of soda in his hands.

Marti just starred at his friend, not giving him an answer for some time.

“Are you ready for another round?” Luca broke the silence and already started setting up everything.

“No Luchi, wait. Can I tell you both something before?” Marti asked, quietly, unsure.

“Sure,” Elia said, looking at him expectantly and Luchino put the controller away, giving his attention to Martino.

“You remember Niccolò, right? The guy from Halloween?” he started slowly and sighed before he was about to continue speaking. His heart was pounding fast, probably a little too fast. But he got interrupted by Luchino.

“Nico! Of course I do remember him, how couldn´t I? What about him? Are we going to see him again soon?”

“Can… Can you sit down? I need to tell you something,” Marti said, his voice shaking.

Someone might think that this gets easier with time, even Marti thought it. But damn, it does not, it doesn´t get easier at all!

As soon as Elia and Luca sat down on the couch he took a deep breath. His gaze wandered to Giovanni again, an encouraging smile on his lips, probably knowing what Marti is about to say now. He sighed before he started to talk again.

“Okay, I already asked if you remember Nico,” he started and earned a nod from both, Elia and Luchino, “well we… we had a thing. Kind of at least.”

“A thing? What do you mean?” Luca asked immediately and looked a him confused.

Martino swallowed before he continued.

“A thing… thing. Well, kind of at least. There was something in the air, something between us… something that felt special. Something that I´ve never felt with someone before. With a _boy_ before,” he sighed before he continued, “I… I like boys! I´m gay!”

And so it´s out. He´s out. Once again.

As he looked up from his lap he immediately caught Gio´s face, a proud smile plastered on it.

“You´re gay? Like… gay gay?” Luca asked, his eyes being wide open.

“Yes. I´m gay. I like boys,” Marti repeated, stating it again.

“But… What about all the girls you made out with? That you had crushes on?”

“I… It wasn´t real. It never was. You actually get used to it, playing a role and wearing a mask over the time.”

“But are you two together now? A couple? Fucking each other?” Elia asked, immediately earning a punch on the back of his head from Gio at the end of his sentence.

“Elia!” Giovanni simply exclaimed.

Marti had to grin a little at this scenario. Elia saying insensitive stuff, Gio trying to make him stop. The same as it´s always. So familiar… As if nothing has changed. Marti felt relief wash over him. And then he continued talking.

“No. No, we´re not together. Have never been. We just… flirted a bit I guess, there never was something serious.”

“So you wanna tell me there was _something special_ between you two but only some flirting that wasn´t serious at the same time?!” Luchino asked confused.

“Yeah we… I… It probably just felt special to me in the end. As he… as he has a girlfriend already.”

“He has a girlfriend? And hasn´t told you about it?” Elia now asked.

“He never told me to be honest. I found her Instagram account and it was clear afterwards.”

“Clear? How could an Instagram account clear such things out?!” Luca responded again, being a little outraged. This boy.

“You know, selfies of them together, a few “I love you´s”, stuff like that,” Marti said and sighed.

“Well, show these pics then,” Luca nearly demanded.

“Why? What difference would it make?”

“Luchi might be right, just let us take a look,” Gio now butted in.

Martino sighed before he took his phone, opening Instagram. He still remembers her profile name by heart.

**madda.lena**

He searched for the one picture of her and Nico he found, reaching out so his friends could all see the screen of his phone.

“Well, she´s good looking,” Elia said, earning yet another slap from Gio.

“Damn bro, wrong thing to say now!” Giovanni told, burying his head in the palm of his hands.

“What? Sorry but it´s the truth.”

“Even if you´d believe that it´s—,” Gio started but got interrupted by Luchino.

“Hey! Marti? Have you ever, just once, thought about checking the date the picture was posted?” Luca asked with a raised eyebrow, looking directly at Marti.

“I… Well no, I don´t think so,” Martino answered confused.

Luca gave him back his phone, pointing at the date the photo was posted at.

  1. May 2016.



_Fuck_.

He quickly grabbed his phone back, scrolling through her Instagram. The last pic of her together was posted on the 24. August 2016. Over three years ago.

Fuck. What has he done?!

“What have I done?” he exclaimed loudly now, a panicked look on his face, looking at his friends.

“Ha! And you´re always saying that I´m the dumb one,” Luca said, a proud and cheeky grin on his lips.

Marti´s mind was racing, it felt as if it was completely empty, not being able to know what to do now and full of thoughts that were spinning around at once. Fuck.

It took him some time to realise and proceed the information he might have been wrong. About Nico, his feelings for him, already being in another relationship. Everything that he felt, that was between him and Nico might have been true, at least he hoped so.

Hope.

There´s still hope.

And it sounded good. Positive.

“But what should I do now?” he asked his friends.

“You need to text him!” Gio immediately answered, looking at him intensively.

“But what should I write? He´s going to think I´m completely stupid after what I´ve did!”

“What do you mean?” Elia asked, raising his eyebrow at him.

Marti looked down, now after all of this he feels stupid, so fucking stupid. But his emotions and his heart just took over his head.

“I blocked him on Instagram, deleted his number and I wouldn´t even have it anymore if it wouldn´t have been for him still texting me and a few days ago I ran into him on my way home and I just acted like the biggest dickhead ever.”

“What has he texted you?” Gio asked again, looking expectantly at his best friend.

Martino grabbed his phone and held it over to Giovanni who took it, looking at the last messages Nico sent him. Elia and Luca, nosey as they were, got closer to Gio on the couch, trying to catch a look at Marti´s phone too.

The silence in the room got interrupted by the sound of Marti´s phone, signalling a new, incoming message.

“Marti? I think you should read this,” Gio said as he pointed to Marti´s phone.

 

**0039 327 7034 967**

 

_I´m sorry for everything I´ve done and for me being a burden_

_My head just doesn´t work the way I want it to_

_I´m sorry_

_Can you tell me what I did wrong?_

_Forget it_

_Just forget me_

 

Fuck. His mind started racing around the fact that Nico gave himself the fault of whatever went wrong between them, not even knowing what was going on, thinking he fucked up if it actually was Marti´s fault, his fault alone.

“Have you read it?!” Marti asked desperately whilst looking at his friends who nodded as an answer, “what should I text him?”

“Tell him you two need to talk! To clear thing. Now!” Gio immediately answered.

Marti nodded and starred down at his phone, looking at the text bar being empty. He tried to gather his racing thoughts a bit before he started typing.

 

_Nico_

_You have done nothing wrong_

_Whatever your head is telling you it´s not true_

_I´m the dumb one here who fucked up_

_Can we talk?_

**0039 327 7034 967**

_Yes_

_Now?_

 

“He wants to talk,” Marti simply said, looking up at his friends, “what should I do now?!”

“What do you mean with “What should I do now?!”? You need to talk to him!” Gio said eagerly.

“But I fucked up, what if he just screams at me?”

“I might not know Nico as good as you do but from what I know about him he seems to be a nice guy, a really nice on. Just think about it again, Marti, do you really think this might happen?” his best friend asked him with an eyebrow-raise.

Marti doesn´t really have to think about it, deep down he knows it.

“Guess you know the answer. So now: Out!” Gio said as he stood up and pulled Marti to his feet.

“What?” he asked, being confused.

“You have a boy to talk to and make up with. Maybe even make out with later. So let´s go!” Giovanni responded as he started pushing him out to the front door of the apartment. Elia and Luca immediately joined him, getting Marti´s things for him.

Marti didn´t even have enough time to properly put his jacket and scarf on and to put his backbag to his back (or well, Elia and Luca were the ones who tried, yes, trying is the most fitting word her, to dress him).

It all happened to fast and he already got pushed out of the apartment.

“I don´t want to see you again until you talked to him and you made up. At least tried to!” Gio said with a strict tone, but still couldn´t a grin back. With a pat on the shoulder and a “Good luck!” he closed the door right in front of Marti´s face and left him standing alone in the hallway.

Marti sighed before he got his phone out of the pocket of his jacket, either Luchino or Elia must have put it there, and texted Nico back.

 

_Yes now_

_If you have time_

 

**0039 327 7034 967**

_I do_

_At the parc we sat the last time?_

 

**0039 327 7034 967**

_Sounds good_

 

_Okay see you_

 

**0039 327 7034 967**

_See you there._

 

And then Marti started walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello @everyone reading this <3
> 
> I´m so sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter done. I just had some bad times and so much to think about and wasn´t really able to concentrate on writing. And basically everything I wrote was shit, haha. But I hope that chapter turned out okay at least <3
> 
> I can´t believe that there are only two chapters left to write by now, but it´ll finally get happier again yayy. 
> 
> I´d love to hear what you think of the chapter in a comment, that would be really nice <33


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